Ghost Speaker
by FireLamp
Summary: Oh, and one more thing, you know my older brother? Yeah, the child prodigy genius guy? Yeah, he can see ghosts. He talks to them, too. What, what do I think about it? Oh, well that's easy. I hate him, of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia- Axis Powers.**

**If I was going to be completely honest, I would say that I have no idea where I'm going with this. I mean, I've got a very rough plot in my head, but it's hard to see how I'm going to actually form it. Still, I like how this thing turned out, so I'm just going to post it and use my imagination for the rest**

**And behold, my first chapter story! Starring the Nordics again! This time it's an AU, so I gave Iceland, Norway, and Denmark the more popular fan-names I saw on the site: Ari, Erik, and Matthias respectively. **

**The first chapter mainly revolves around Ari/Iceland and Erik/Norway, but don't worry, Berwald/Sweden, Tino/Finland and Matthias/Denmark will show up soon!**

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Chapter 1

"I'm home…"

Ari entered the dark house silently; keeping his gaze fixed on the floor as he closed the door behind him and kicked off his shoes. All the lights were off, and not a sound echoed throughout the rooms. So he was the first one home again. And three hours late, at that.

He scowled, fingers tightening on the strap of his backpack. It was always like this. Every single day. His parents were too busy to pick him up from school, but had never bothered to hire a babysitter, since he had his wonderful and caring older brother to look after him. But Erik always forgot. He was four years older than Ari, already in high school. Apparently, he was a genius. A "prodigy", the teachers called him. He received good grades from every single subject, was a master at the violin, and practically already had colleges asking him for appliance. But he could never be bothered to pick up his seventh-grade brother and take him home.

Ari's scowl grew darker, and he suddenly stomped up the stairs, eagerly making as much noise as possible since there were no older figures to tell him otherwise. Storming into his room, painted a cold ice blue and located directly across from Erik's, he slammed the door and threw his backpack on the floor, barely flinching at the loud thud the binders and books inside of it made as it landed.

He jerked back the chair to his desk, and fell into it, before scrabbling back up to the table and hastily snatching a piece of lined paper and a black ink pen. After running the pen roughly against the corner of the page, he quickly scribbled down many lines, pouring out all his anger into the simple writing tools.

As suddenly as he had begun, he stopped, pushing the chair back and throwing the pen back onto the desk. He then hurried out of his room and ran down the stairs, slipping his shoes back on and digging his hands in his pockets to make sure he had the house keys before dashing outside and to the town cemetery.

_It's always like this. Every day._

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"You're early," Erik said calmly, cool blue eyes scanning over his brother's body as the younger boy approached.

Ari only glared back, refusing to reply such an obvious statement.

The blonde, as though acknowledging it, turned back to the rows of tombstones they stood in front of, his gaze flicking back and forth as though tracking a fly zipping around him. Ari watched, half in contempt and half in jealousy. He hated how his brother always seemed to be staring at things he could never see, as though there was another world right before him that only Erik had access to. It was unnerving. And unfair.

"Mom and Dad will be home later than usual today," Erik spoke again, despite his back still turned to the twelve-year-old. "You know that, don't you?"

Again, Ari didn't reply.

"So why are you here so early?"

There was a brief pause, and then a snap of disgust and sarcasm. "I didn't want you to get lost in the dark. I would have been the one to get in trouble, anyway."

Erik was quiet for a few moments, as though contemplating his brother's words. Finally, he turned his head slightly so that his cobalt gaze stared into his brother's purple glower. "You don't have to hate me, Ari."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," Ari immediately spat back, the words having been readily set on his tongue. His violet eyes flared with sudden anger, an entire argument already prepared in his mind. All he needed was one good prompt from his stupid know-it-all of a brother.

Inevitably, that prompt wasn't given to him. Erik only sighed, and turned back, walking past Ari's tense body and out of the graveyard. Ari stood for a few moments more, fuming silently at how his cowardly brother always avoided a fight, before finally whirling around and grudgingly following.

_Every single day._

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Besides being a child prodigy at both academics and music, Erik had one other talent. A hidden talent, as some might say. No one outside of his family knew about it, and even there only very few relatives were informed. In fact, as far as Ari knew, it was only him, Erik, and their three cousins Berwald, Matthias, and Tino. Not even his parents had heard of Erik's "special" skill.

Of course, it was probably better left that way. Besides, in Ari's mind, it wasn't that great, anyway.

Erik could see ghosts.

That wasn't a good thing. Not a blessing, as Tino had eagerly labeled it, or a freaking awesome power, as Matthias said. If anything, it was a curse. After all, what else could you call being able to speak with the passed on spirits of the dead? It was a burden. There was nothing to gain from it, and almost everything to lose. How, in any way, could something like that be even remotely considered a blessing?

It just wasn't possible.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Did you get your math test back?"

Ari shoved a forkful of his dinner in his mouth and chewed silently, keeping his gaze fixed on the plate before him. Erik looked at him briefly, and then returned to his own dinner. Their parents still weren't home yet, so Erik had decided to begin dinner without them. It was usually like this.

"The one you took last week?" Erik prompted again after a few minutes. "Did you get it back yet?"

Ari gulped down the rest of his water, and placed it back rather harshly on the table. "Why don't you get your little ghost friends together and have them check for you?"

To his sick delight, he saw a brief flash of surprise and hurt on his brother's face before it quickly subsided into his usual blank expression. "That wouldn't be fair," Erik replied in the same cool tone he always used.

"Is anything in my life?" Ari muttered under his breath. Raising his voice and glaring at his brother, he snapped, "A genius like you should just mind your own business. It's not my fault if you're so embarrassed when everyone else asks if your brother is as smart as you."

This time, the surprise stayed on Erik's face. "I never said... that's never happened before, Ari. I've never been embarrassed of you."

"I'm so sure. What else could a child prodigy feel about his mediocre little brother?" Pushing back his chair, Ari ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He didn't want to stick around to see what sort of responses Erik would come up with. He had homework to do, anyway.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

So maybe he'd been a little harsh.

Maybe even a little unfair.

But it wasn't without good reason. His score on his math test had been an B+, which, technically speaking, wasn't so bad. Room for improvement, of course, but still not a grade to be too ashamed of or laughed at. Unfortunately for Ari, both were things he had to deal with throughout school. Ashamed of not being nearly as good as his brother, laughed at by kids who mocked him for having someone like Erik as a blood relation and still not have the best grades. It wasn't fair.

And it was all Erik's fault.

"Stupid," he muttered, sitting down once more at his desk and again grabbing a pen and paper. He began to write as slowly and calmly as he could, but eventually the careful strokes were transformed into hasty scribbles and ugly scrawls, as he mumbled to himself again and again, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why do I always have to be compared to Erik? I'm the normal one! I'm not the one that can see ghosts! I'm not the one who's a _freak!_"

And then he was finished.

He glared down at the piece of paper, every line of it filled with words. His eyes flicked all over it, editing it sloppily before tossing it onto a thick pile of other papers he had written on. It was his way of venting out annoyance and anger, but it only worked in draining out about a quarter of the negative feelings. How to deal with the rest was up to him.

Turning, he saw his backpack on the floor, and frowned at the thought of all the homework he had to do. History, English, what use was that to him when he grew older and took his dream job of working in the aquarium? Still, if he avoided doing his homework again, his teachers would want to talk to his parents for the second time this school year, and then they would scold him and tell Erik, and then Erik would scold him, and then everyone would say the one line he'd grown up hating with all his heart.

_Why can't you be more like your brother?_

Erik is so perfect. He's every parent's dream child. He does his work obediently and diligently, takes orders without a second thought or a word of protest, never gets into any trouble at school, always gets outstanding grades in anything he tries.

Oh, and he can see ghosts. Can't forget about that.

Erik can do everything Ari can't, no matter how hard he tries to be like his older brother. That's why eventually Ari gave up. Despite all of his hard work, staying up late studying and practicing his hardest on the piano, he could never come close to Erik's level. So why bother anymore? Just accept who you are, and don't try to be something you're not.

"I'm not my older brother, so stop telling yourselves I am."

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**So... hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Reviews are loved, and feedback is appreciated.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot to mention something in the last chapter: Iceland/Ari will be really out of character. But you probably already know that by now. So...**

**Still not to sure where I'm going with this, but if you're willing to stick with me and read to the finish than you're without a doubt almost as awesome as Prussia! Enjoy the chapter!**

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Chapter 2

"Hey, brat!" Out of nowhere, a large, muscular arm wrapped itself around Ari's neck, and then lifted him up into the air, pressing him against a body smelling strongly of alcohol. The man laughed cheerfully. "You're leaving school awfully late, aren't you? Erik was getting worried."

Ari stiffened at the familiar voice, and then scowled, turning his head to glare at his captor. "What are you doing here, Matthias?"

The nineteen-year-old man had a grin a mile wide on his face as he roughly dropped Ari, and then straightened up. "Is that any way to greet your cousin whom you haven't seen for two months? I'm hurt, Ari! Well, then again, if you hadn't said something like that I probably would've taken you to the emergency room." He peered down expectantly.

"You haven't answered my question."

"That's because it was meaningless! I already told you, Erik was getting worried, so I was sent out to retrieve you." the Dane gave him a thumbs-up, accompanied by his trademark grin. "I did a pretty good job, didn't I?"

Ari scoffed and turned away, resuming his walk home. "Not bad for a dog who follows my brother's every command."

"That wounds me, Ari! It really does. See, right here," Matthias, easily catching up with the seventh grader, slid in front of him and began walking backwards while jabbing a finger at his own chest. "It's a scar that will never heal because of your words."

"If you're visiting, then does that mean Berwald and Tino are here, too?"

Matthias put his hands behind his head, smiling leisurely. "Guess so. I haven't actually seen either of them yet, since Erik told me to go out to look for you as soon as I arrived."

"Hmph."

The Dane pivoted easily, slowing down so that he was walking alongside his cousin. "You know, you don't have to act so cold around him all the time. He really cares about you, but you're making it pretty hard on him."

Ari's hold on the straps of his backpack tightened. "You as well, Matthias. You shouldn't question things you don't even know about so carelessly."

The younger boy's ice tone seemed to have no affect on the blonde, as he simply shrugged and replied, "Yeah, maybe."

To Ari's credit, the rest of the walk home was spent in silence.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"It's good to see you again, Ari," Tino greeted warmly as soon as his two cousins stepped in through the door. Berwald, standing a little bit behind the Finn, nodded stiffly and mumbled something that might have been a greeting.

Ari put on the best half smile he could manage and returned, "You too, Tino. And Berwald."

Behind the twelve-year-old, Matthias pouted and whined, "What, I don't get a greeting? You two are cruel!"

Tino laughed, and Berwald had an expression that looked almost amused on his face. Watching the two, Ari found himself unable to wipe off the half smile. Well, they always had been his two favorite relatives. Tino, at eighteen, was friendly, fun, and always willing to listen to any problems Ari had. Twenty-one-year-old Berwald was the same, although slightly more stern and reasonable. Both the Finn and the Swede had been very close for as long as Ari could remember, so much so, in fact, that Matthias had often teased the two of being a couple. An uppercut from Berwald had quickly shut him up, but it still didn't deny the fact that they were almost unnaturally good friends.

"It's a good thing you're home," Tino said once Ari had put away his backpack into his room and come back down the stairs. The four headed into the living room, where Erik was seated doing his homework. The tenth grader glanced up, nodded, and returned to his work. At Ari's scowl, Tino smiled sympathetically and spoke quietly into his ear. "Erik was very worried, you know. He said that you always came home early on Fridays, since that was the one school day when he didn't visited the graveyard. What took you so long today?"

Ari shrugged off his words. "I had things I wanted to do. I can take care of myself, you know, I'm not a little kid anymore."

Matthias laughed as though he had just said a hilarious joke. "You still are to us, though, brat! Hahaha!"

"Y' sh'dn't m'ck h'm, M'tthias," Berwald mumbled in his barely-able-to-understand way.

"What's wrong?" Matthias patted Ari roughly on the back. "You're not going to come up with some clever comeback? Never mind, it doesn't matter. Come on, you should sit down! According to Erik, we've got a lot of things to talk about. Why do you think we're here on such short notice?" After another short laugh, Matthias plopped down on the worn-out armchair Ari's father usually sat in. "Still as comfy as I remember. Hey, Erik, your parents went away for a trip today, right? I don't want your old man showing up and freaking out on me for sitting in his chair again."

"You are correct," Erik replied, his low voice a refreshing change from his cousin's yell. He straightened up in his seated position on the far end of the couch, closing the textbook and binder placed on the coffee table before him. "Our mother and father left for a business trip to England earlier today, and apparently will be gone for two weeks. Therefore, you may all stay here until then."

_That's right, don't even think about consulting with me first. My opinion doesn't matter since I'm still a kid._ Ari couldn't say he enjoyed self-pitying himself, but he disliked how Erik went ahead and made a decision by himself even more. This was his house, too! He should have a say in the matter. Besides, he didn't even know why his cousins had so suddenly arrived. According to Matthias, it was because Erik had wanted to talk about something. His almighty ghost-seeing powers, probably. It was convenient, since Mom and Dad were away and the three specific relatives who knew about them had shown up.

Tino sat down next to Erik on the couch, and Berwald took a seat beside his closest friend. Ari glanced warily at the perfect sized space conveniently placed between Tino and Erik, and then opted to sit down on the twin armchair next to Matthias. Tino gave Ari an almost disapproving look at he pointedly ignored, and then turned to Erik. "So what did you call us here for? It was so sudden, is something wrong?"

"That depends on how you look at it," Erik answered in his own vague way. Lifting one leg and placing it on the other, he settled himself into a more comfortable position on the couch before continuing. "Yesterday, the ghosts told me something very interesting. I thought it only fair to share it with all of you."

Matthias grinned, kicking his feet out excitedly like a little kid being told Christmas was coming early this year. "Haha, freaking awesome! That's what's so great about you, Erik, you're always so considerate. Right, Ari?"

Ari shrugged, looking as uninterested as anyone could be. After all, why should it concern him what dead people told his brother? He wondered if he would be allowed to leave the room. Even if it was a Friday, he still thought it would be a good idea to finish his homework early.

"According to the ghosts," Erik went on as though his brother's lack of enthusiasm didn't affect him, "a new family has just moved into this town."

"'nd this is m'port'nt b'cause?" Berwald prompted.

Erik looked at him for a few moments, and then cast a lazy stare around the rest of the room. "Because apparently, this new family can see ghosts, as well."

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**OMFG, Berwald and Tino aren't a couple in this story! Yeah... sorry it turned out that way... I support the pairing, too, but I don't really think it would work for this story.**

**So anyways, thanks for reading this chapter! It was really awesome getting three reviews just for the first one, so I hope the second chapter pleased you all as well. And even though the ending might have _seemed_ like a cliffhanger, I can still assure you that I have no idea where this is going!**

**Oh yeah, one more thing before I shut up. **

**Who do you think the new ghost-seeing family should be? Yes, I am that unprepared for this story. I was thinking either England's family, consisting of him, America, Canada, Seychelles, and Sealand, or the Germanic family, consisting of Germany, Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and maybe Hungary.**

**Thanks, and have an awesome rest of your life!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I HAVE A PLOT! **

**And it's all thanks to ccsakura21! Thanks a bunch, you're officially one of the awesomest people ever! Although, I won't be following the exact outline ccsakura21 gave me, since then anyone could just look at the review and be like "mwahaha, now I know what's gonna happen".**

**But anyways, now that I know where I'm going with this, you can probably expect more straightforward chapters! But is that a good thing or a bad thing?**

**Whatever, just enjoy this one for now! **

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Chapter 3

_"Apparently, this new family can see ghosts, as well."_

As was to be expected, as soon as the words had left Erik's mouth, all three of his visiting cousins had leapt upon him with questions. How did he know? Who were they? Were they a threat? Would he want to meet with them anytime soon? Ari, meanwhile, had slipped away and went to his room, although, to his annoyance, Matthias was still loud enough to be heard from the second floor. And as a result, the indifferent seventh grader had managed to get a pretty good idea of what had happened.

Now it was Monday, back to school, and Ari still couldn't get the discussion out of his head. Another ghost-seeing family, and Erik had found about it practically the day they arrived. Well, Erik had also said he had no intention of meeting the new family, so maybe it wouldn't cause too big an irritation.

"Because getting involved with more people who can see spirits is just what I need," he muttered sarcastically. He glanced up, adjusted his backpack, and then continued his way to school. Tino and Berwald had offered to walk with him, but it was unnecessary. Ari knew his way around- he walked every day, after all.

"Um… e-excuse me?"

Ari paused in his tracks at the sight of the girl who had stepped in front of him. She looked troubled, her forest green eyes lowered and her lips trembling in a pout. Her hands fiddled nervously, occasionally going up to tug at the purple ribbon tied in her golden-brown hair, as she stumbled over her next words.

"I'm sorry to bother you. I was just… um… a few minutes ago I tripped, and all of my things fell out of my backpack. I… I already got most of my things, but I can't seem to find my history textbook." Here, she lifted her gaze and looked at him pleadingly. "It was very expensive, and I'm afraid my brother won't buy another one for me, but it's very important for my class. So… um… if you wouldn't mind, could you please…?"

Ari tilted his head to one side, pondering over the pros and cons of helping this girl. He'd never seen her before, so she probably went to a different school, and just happened to be taking longer today to get there, which was why he bumped into her. Therefore, even if she would somehow repay him, it would be a bother for both of them to find each other again, and so, if he did help her, he wouldn't have anything to gain from it. But she did look incredibly distressed. Almost like she was about to cry.

His hesitation must have sent a negative message, because the girl sighed softly and dropped her gaze again, opening her mouth to probably apologize for wasting his time. Good thing he was so good at reading people.

"No problem," Ari offered her a quick smile, hoping it looked more genuine than it felt. "I didn't really want to get to school that much, anyway."

She looked slightly insulted, and Ari wondered if it was because of what he'd said. It hadn't been that rude, had it? But she soon smiled in return, thanking him for the trouble.

"So you dropped it right around here?" Ari examined their surroundings. They were right next to a fairly small park, with only a few bushes and trees scattered among it. If the textbook was in any way as big as his history class' ones, it shouldn't be too hard to hide in a place like this. "What color is it?"

"Bright red," she supplied, "and its title is in big yellow letters. _History_."

Ari rolled his eyes. Why did all textbooks have to be given such obvious titles? That was the exact same as his own book. But still, if it was familiar than it should make it that much easier to find.

"Well, let's get started, then."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"You're late," Mr. Kirkland said bluntly as soon as Ari walked into the room.

_No kidding_, Ari thought sarcastically. But he held his tongue and marched silently over to his desk, dropping his bag on the floor and sitting down on the chair to face his ridiculously strict teacher.

It had taken them a while to find the history book, when at last Ari found it hidden beneath a particularly low shrub. After fetching it for her—guess what, it was the exact same as his own textbook—she had been so ecstatic Ari had almost laughed. She had thanked him multiple times before running off, and so Ari had been left to pick up his backpack and trudge back on the way to school. Oh, fun.

"Is there a reason why you're late?" Mr. Kirkland pressured, fixing Ari with a stern green stare.

"Not really," Ari gladly returned the look.

Mr. Kirkland looked unsatisfied and rather annoyed, but cleverly chose to ignore it and continued on with what he'd been saying beforehand. "Now then, as I mentioned earlier, we have a transfer student coming in today. Her family just moved here, and I expect you all to treat her with kindness and respect, is that understood?"

"Yes, Mr. Kirkland," the dull voices of the class chorused back to him.

The Englishman nodded firmly. "Good. Now, I would like you all to meet Miss Lillian Zwingli."

And it was then- only then- that Ari finally noticed the girl who had been standing next to and a little bit behind Mr. Kirkland. He recognized her, too. The green eyes, now bright with excitement, and the purple bow looking like it had been freshly retied.

"Hello," the girl he'd helped earlier that morning spoke cheerfully, her hands no longer fiddling nervously but instead clasped before her chest as she continued. "My name is Lillian Zwingli, but please call me Lilli. I look forward to spending the rest of the year with you."

And that was when Ari had another epiphany. This girl, Lilli, and her family had just moved into the town, according to Mr. Kirkland. So unless there was some other new family whose kids happened to go to some other school, it was this girl and whatever relatives she had who could also see ghosts.

He slammed his head against the table.

Screw life.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"So you come to this school?" Lilli approached him as soon as the dismissal bell rang. He lifted his head to look at her, to which she replied with a kind smile. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't have run off this morning if I had known."

Ari shrugged, and resumed packing his bag. "No worries. But you must have been running pretty fast to get to school on time even after dropping all your stuff."

"I barely made it," she admitted sheepishly. "But Mr. Kirkland was very kind to me, and helped me to the classroom. I was surprised when you came in- you were almost half an hour late."

"I like to take my time," Ari responded. He stood up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, and began to walk away.

Lilli quickly followed, still continuing to speak. "So, who do you live at home with? I live with my older brother. We ran away from home when I was little, and our cousins took us in, so technically I live with my cousins, too."

_What's with all the sudden information?_ "I live with my older brother as well." No need to tell her that his cousins were staying at his house, too.

"Really?" she sounded delighted. "Vash enrolled in this town's high school. Does your brother go there?" Ari nodded, and she gave a little bounce of excitement. "Then maybe they met each other today."

"Maybe." When hell freezes over. Erik was probably the most anti-social person at the school- Ari doubted that he would even notice Lilli's older brother.

Once they got to the front door, Ari dutifully held it open and waited patiently as Lilli walked out before following. As if on cue, a gleaming black car suddenly pulled up to the curb, and a blonde boy about Erik's age stepped out of it. He glanced around briefly before his green eyes finally settled upon the duo. "Lilli," he called.

"Hi, Vash," Lilli waved back eagerly. Turning to Ari, she explained, "That's my big brother. Um, I have to go now, but it was very nice meeting you. And thank you for helping me find my history book this morning, I really appreciate it." She began to trot to where Vash and the fancy car were waiting. "Bye, I'll see you tomorrow!"

Ari nodded, lifting a hand in return. "See you."

She hurried over to Vash, who ushered her into the back seat of the car before returning to his own position in the driver's seat. However, right before he got into the car, he paused and lifted his eyes to look at Ari. Ari returned the stare, unwilling to be the one to show weakness. Finally, Vash sighed, nodded curtly, and slipped into the car. A few moments later, the engine roared and the two drove away.

Ari remained in front of the school for a couple minutes longer before beginning his walk home. For someone who could see ghosts, Lilli hadn't seemed that bad. Not nearly as emotionless as Erik, at least. Maybe he couldn't say as much for her older brother, but hey, he'd only seen the guy for about eight seconds. Perhaps not all spirit-seers acted the same way as Erik.

Oh well, it didn't matter that much, anyway. The whole ghost-seeing thing was for Erik, and anything his brother did was none of Ari's concern.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"How was it?" Vash inquired as he slowed the car to a stop at the traffic light.

Lilli smiled cheerfully. "He's a very nice boy, even if he doesn't seem like it at first. But he didn't give any sign that he could see anything out of the ordinary." here, she hesitated. "Are you sure he's the right one?"

"Not at all," her brother replied truthfully. "I can never tell what that idiot Gilbert is thinking. But he's never been wrong before when it comes to this sort of stuff. All we can do is trust him."

Lilli giggled. "That sounds strange coming from you, brother."

"Hmph."

The light turned green, and the black car zoomed away.

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**Don't really like how this one ended, and Vash and Lilli were definitely out of character but... no worries, I'm working on it!**

**And on a side note, the Germanic family won! But I still managed to slip in Arthur... and who knows? Maybe Mr. Kirkland will have a big role in this.**

**Oh, and in response to a sort-of-question from DaRkZeRoGaL, sorry but I'm not really intending to put like... _any_ pairings in this story. I mean, I might change my mind later, but for now it's a no.**

**So yeah, thanks for reading! And for the reviews- they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.**

**And thus, have an awesome rest of your life!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Maybe it's because I finally have a plot that I'm feeling less inspired... it's never too fun when you have the entire thing already mapped out for you. ****But whatever... it's 12:35 am right now and I really don't feel like saying much. **

**Just enjoy the chapter!... please?**

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Chapter 4

"Erik, right?"

The unfamiliar voice caught him off-guard. In the three seconds it took for him to turn his head and give his trademark blank look at the questioner, millions of thoughts had already run through his mind.

_Only Ari and the others know I come up here._

_I don't recognize this voice._

_How does he know my name?_

_Is he a friend or an enemy?_

_Can he see ghosts?_

A blonde boy about his age stood only twenty feet away from him. One hand placed carelessly on his hip as he scanned him with alert, green eyes. A dismissive look as clear as Erik's bored one was on his face, and an impatiently arched eyebrow told the blue-eyed tenth grader that he was still awaiting an answer. However, before Erik could give one, the boy continued on.

"A child prodigy, as everyone calls you. A master in both academics and arts. So smart, in fact, that the teachers allow you to skip class and do whatever you please during school hours. Of course, no one knows where you actually go, but for someone like me, it's as obvious as anything. A ghost speaker naturally goes to where the ghosts are, after all."

Erik's eyes narrowed slightly. "I assume you've just moved into this town, then? The graveyard has been buzzing with all the rumors about you and your family."

"I'm flattered," the boy replied, sounding anything but. "Unfortunately, though, I did not come to exchange stories with you. The head of my family has sent me here to relay a message to you. You'd be wise to hear it out."

"A message?"

"A warning, if you want to be precise."

A look of displeasure crossed Erik's face. "You're saying that a new family such as yours has the nerve to challenge me in my own territory?"

"You misunderstand. This isn't a challenge. Simply a compromise."

"A moment ago it was a warning."

Exasperation showed clearly in the boy's eyes, and his response was a hasty snap. "Giving the statement a title does not change its meaning. Now are you willing to listen or not? This does concern your younger brother, if that makes you more agreeable."

That threw Erik off guard. "Ari has nothing to do with this," he replied, a little too quickly. "Do not bring him into a world he doesn't belong to."

The smirk on the other boy's face was almost enough to make Erik punch him. "So not even you know? And you call yourself his older brother... you fail at your task, Erik. This has everything to do with Ari. More so than any of you apparently realize."

"What do you mean?"

"My leader's compromise is this," the boy went on, ignoring Erik's question, "give us Ari, and none of your family will be hurt. Simple, isn't it?"

"You're asking me to hand over my brother to a group of ghost-seeing strangers without even knowing why?"

The boy smiled humorlessly. "That's it exactly."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"We're back," Vash announced dully, closing the door behind him as he and his sister both took off their shoes. He straightened his back, scanning the large dark mansion. When he failed to find the person he was looking for, he called, "Gilbert, get down here. We've got some news for you."

"Gilbert went out for a bit," a tall, well-built blonde man suddenly appeared out of the shadows of the hallway. "He won't be back until around dinner time." Ignoring the scowl on the younger man's face, he glanced down at Lilli and nodded politely. "How was your first day at this school?"

"It's fun," Lilli replied enthusiastically. "And I've already made a new friend."

Ludwig blinked. "Oh? Of your own accord, or through my brother's orders?"

"I'd like to think it was the former," she said shyly. Smiling up at the German, she held her hands behind her back and continued, "He doesn't seem to know anything about ghosts, and he's also really nice."

A low, melodic voice behind Ludwig responded to her statement. "Being nice has nothing to do with it, Lilli. You know this. Despite not knowing anything now, by the time he reaches his birthday his talent will surely awaken. And when that happens, we need to make sure that we are in control."

"But we don't know for sure that he's the one," Lilli argued. "Gilbert might be wrong, and then what would happen?"

"Gilbert is an idiot, but his instincts for spirits has never been wrong," Roderich replied evenly. "Our plan will work." He quickly raised a hand to silence the girl when she opened her mouth to protest again. "Before you speak again, think over your words. Do not believe that your statements will have any effect—learn your place, and then we might listen."

Vash immediately bristled, stepping in front of his younger sister. "Watch your words, as well, Roderich. Anyone who speaks so disrespectfully to Lilli will answer to me, is that understood?"

"You act too quickly, Vash," Roderich said, ignoring the thinly veiled threat with his own unimpressed tone. "It is such impatience that will get you into deep trouble one day."

"You have the nerve to say that to me?" Vash advanced dangerously, but Ludwig quickly stepped between the two.

Glancing at each one to make sure neither would say or do anything to provoke the other, he began to speak. "That is enough out of both of you. It is pointless to begin a fight at this time, when injuries are the least we can afford. Whether either of you like it or not, we are all on the same side, and thus will and should be working together, not arguing. Have I made myself clear, Vash, Roderich?"

Vash looked away, and Roderich pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Ludwig nodded firmly. "Good. Now, Gilbert will be back soon and he will be expecting a good meal. Roderich, go to the supermarket and buy some ingredients for dinner tonight. Vash and I will begin with whatever we have at the moment. Lilli, you should go to your room and complete your homework. When you're finished, you can help us out. Does everyone understand their respective task?"

"I'll go now," Roderich walked briskly to the door, brushing past Vash as he went.

The Swiss twitched in annoyance, but only grunted out, "Sure," and made his way to the kitchen.

Lilli looked at her brother nervously, smiled slightly at Ludwig, and then grabbed her backpack and scurried up the stairs, hurrying to get out of the tight atmosphere the cousins had created.

This wasn't, of course, to say that such a scene was unusual. In fact, as far as Ludwig was concerned, he probably told Vash and Roderich the same things every day. The two were always fighting, willing to throw a punch at anything that was even implied. It was troublesome for a group that was supposed to act as a team. If they couldn't pull it together in time, Ari and his powers would just slip through their fingers, and then they would be left with nothing.

But that would not happen. Ludwig refused, and his brother even more so, for the family to go broke and die off. This was their last chance, and no matter what by the time Ari turned thirteen, they would have to be in the upper hand.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Hey, Vash!" without warning, the albino barged into the blonde's study room, red eyes gleaming wickedly and a confident smirk on his face. In a single smooth motion, he grabbed a chair, slid it over backwards across from his cousin's desk, and sat down it in, arms laid leisurely on the back of said chair and himself leaning forward in interest. "Heard you had some news for me."

"Erik refused," was the blunt reply. Vash hardly seemed affected by the family's head's sudden arrival, only placing his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his intertwined fingers. "Although I doubt either of us can be too surprised by it. You would have done the same for Ludwig, and I for Lilli."

Gilbert nodded easily, not even seeming the slightest bit concerned about the refusal. "Obviously. I didn't think it would work, anyway."

"Then why did you have me ask?"

"Because I'm awesome, of course!"

Vash frowned. "That's not an answer, Gilbert."

Said man shrugged, and grinned. "Well, what else can I say? It's true. Plus, first impressions are always important. I think we've given off a pretty good message just by that." He quickly flashed a thumbs-up. "Awesome job, Vash. Not nearly as awesome to pretend you were even remotely as awesome as me, but still awesome."

Vash sighed, "Please try to make sense of what you just said."

"It makes sense. Maybe you just need to think more." Gilbert gave a brief laugh before suddenly standing up and turning to leave. "Alright, good talk. I'm gonna go get a beer. Have fun with your studies, Vash." The last sentence was said mockingly, but the blonde expertly ignored it.

"Have a good night, Gilbert," he replied in an even voice.

Gilbert laughed again, left the room, and roughly slammed the door. Vash remained silent for a few moments, and then let out a deep sigh.

"This entire plan... is not going to end well."

* * *

**Yup... focused on the Germanic family this time. Didn't feel like dealing with Ari's complicated attitude. Vash seemed to come up a lot in this chapter, though...**

**Oh well. One more thing. Sorry I totally screwed up everyone's character. I know Vash was totally out of it in the beginning, but I just thought that somehow fit in with Erik's continuous avoidance of the questions.**

**So yeah, thanks for reading, and I'm sorry if this story isn't exactly turning out to be what you expected. It's not really going where I expected it to but... how about this? I'll give you a small spoiler for what I'm planning to happen eventually, and maybe that will keep you reading and reviewing.**

**Ready? Okay... someone's gonna DIE!**

**That interesting enough?**


	5. Chapter 5

**I've come to a decision.**

**While my plot will stay more or less the same, I'm also going to take advantage and put in a bunch of random yet necessary things. It makes it more fun to write that way! For example, the new characters that show up in this chapter initially weren't supposed to be in this story at all, but then I changed my mind and decided they would make it better.**

**So please enjoy the early chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 5

You know it's a bad dream when everything around you is black.

Ari didn't even bother running around screaming familiar names. This was a dream. Dreams couldn't hurt you. So he sat down on the floor that wasn't there, and waited. Sooner or later he'd have to wake up. That was the simple fact. He couldn't be trapped in his sleep forever. So he waited.

"How boring," he sighed to himself. He wondered idly if he should try the thing that everyone in books and movies did when they thought they were in a dream- beating themselves up. But that sounded even less fun. Who would want to purposely inflict pain upon themselves? "Is anything going to happen here?"

_"You want something to happen?"_

Ari fell back in alarm. Right in front of him, directly in front of him, a golden-brown-haired man had stood. Granted, he'd only appeared as a flash, disappearing in the next half second, but even that had been long enough for Ari to take in the maniacal grin and the deadly knife he'd held.

_"Don't worry, don't worry. Something fun is going to happen. Something really fun."_

The man's image flashed again. The knife was gone from his hand, but as though to make up for it blood was splattered all over his clothes and face. His blue eyes glowed with delight, although only somewhat visible behind his red-stained glasses.

A shriek of laughter echoed throughout the space, but Ari forced himself to stay calm. It was a dream. Only a dream.

_"The most fun you've ever had in your life! It'll be a blast!"_

"Leave me alone."

The man's face, this time completely clean of the blood, appeared only an inch away from Ari's. His eyes were blue slits, and his mouth still curved in a homicidal grin.

_"You'll never be alone, kid. But don't worry... it'll be fun."_

As soon as the last word left his mouth, the man threw back his head and laughed in a twisted joyful way that made the hair on the back of Ari's neck rise. Suddenly, the man disappeared, only to show up again a safe ten feet away.

_"The North American Brothers! The next time you hear that title, it'll be right before we take your life."_

And everything was black once more.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"What's wrong, Ari? You look tired," Tino set down a plate of eggs before the seventh grader, and then took a seat across from him, blinking curiously. "Did you have trouble sleeping last night?"

Ari slowly put a forkful of his breakfast into his mouth. "Something like that," he mumbled. He chewed lazily. The disturbing dream was still fresh in his mind. He could even remember the details of the insane man who'd appeared in it.

The brown bomber jacket, stained with flecks of bright red. The rounded glasses, behind which were bright blue eyes shining with the idea of murder. The messy gold-brown hair, the sharp blade of the knife, the grin and laugh that had scared him half to death. The North American Brothers. _Brothers_. As in plural. As in _more than one crazy knife-wielding killer who would appear in his dreams._

Matthias was sitting right on top of the kitchen counter, a large mug of black coffee beside him as he read the newspaper. "You should hurry up, Ari," he said as he flipped a large page. "Erik already left. You don't go soon, you're gonna be late."

"I don't want to hear that from you," Ari retorted. Nonetheless, he gobbled down the rest of his meal, dumped the plate in the sink, and ran over to the front door. He didn't care if he was late- he just didn't feel like being around his cousins.

As he was putting on his shoes, Berwald approached him, holding his backpack. He muttered something Ari couldn't quite catch, and then dropped it next to him. Ari nodded his thanks, slung it over his shoulder, and prepared to leave.

"Oh, wait, Ari," Tino hurried over to him right as he was about to walk out. "I almost forgot. What would you like me to get you for your birthday?"

_Birthday?_ Ari blinked. That's right... his birthday was this Friday. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about the day he was turning thirteen. "Oh... uh... it's okay, Tino. I don't really want anything. Presents are a bit of a hassle, anyway. But thanks."

Tino looked surprised. "Are you sure? It wouldn't be a bother to me. In fact, we all want to get you presents."

"I already got you one," Matthias' loud voice sounded from the kitchen, "and you're gonna take it whether you like it or not, got it, brat?"

Ari made a face. "Whatever. I have to go now. I'll see you guys later."

He dashed out the door, waving carelessly back at Tino and Berwald before running full speed. He didn't know why, though. He just felt like running. It was weird. Keeping that in mind, he slowed down to a jog, keeping himself running in place as he approached a busy street and waited for the walk signal.

He glanced around, pumping his feet impatiently. He wanted to move. To get away from wherever and go to wherever. Was that too much to ask?

_North American Brothers!_

That was when he saw him. Sure, the jacket was gone, replaced by more casual clothes, and in the wide smile's place was a normal everyday teen's face, but that didn't make the man any different. He stood on the other side of the street, talking animatedly to another man only slightly shorter than him. This one had a patient, kind face, and was nodding politely to everything his companion said. He had wavier, lighter blonde hair, and his glasses covered violet eyes rather than blue. But despite the differences, there was no mistake. This new man was obviously related to the first. Probably even... his brother.

Ari swallowed down the panic that had risen through his body. There was no way, though. That had been a dream. It couldn't have been real, no matter how lifelike it was. Plus, even if it was real, there was no way that they would try to kill him in broad daylight, right? There were too many people, too many witnesses. They couldn't be planning anything. They weren't planning anything. They were just two men, two brothers, who happened to be on the other side of the street.

Then, the taller one glanced up, instantly locking eyes with Ari. Ari, as usual, held his gaze, only this time it was more out of the fact that he _couldn't_ look away, no matter how much he wanted to. Finally, after a few more moments of absolute terror, the blue-eyed one grinned and waved, the gesture soon followed by his brother.

A large truck rolled by, and by the time it passed, the two were gone.

It took Ari a full minute to realize that the walk signal was on, and only a tenth of that time to run across the road before the next green light lit up. He stopped once he reached the sidewalk, looking down to make sure he was really there, where only a minute ago the man from his dream had stood. He had no idea what this meant, but it obviously wasn't anything good.

And it was at this moment that Ari could very honestly say, screw life.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"My answer is still no."

The footsteps paused, and seconds later the now-familiar voice rang out. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

Erik turned, giving a full-force glare at the boy as he replied, "I will never sacrifice the safety of my brother for anything. If whatever you've come here to say relates in any way to Ari, I will tell you right now not to waste your breath and leave."

Vash paused, as though contemplating the prodigy's words. Then, he smiled slightly, and nodded. "That is understandable. To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to agree yesterday. I would have done the same if such a deal was directed towards my sister." He began to walk forward, stopping only a few feet away from Erik. "But now I come with a genuine warning. This was not an order from my family's head, or anyone, for that matter. Just something I thought you should know."

Erik narrowed his eyes, clearly unwilling to trust the blonde but still curious nonetheless. "What do you have to say?"

"You've heard of the North American Brothers, haven't you? They're infamous throughout the ghost speaking world."

"I know a little about them," Erik answered. "They specialize in dreams, and playing with peoples' minds. They can make anybody quick to go insane, whether that someone knows it or not. Dangerous people."

"You've been well-informed," Vash dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. "In that case, you understand the graveness of my words when I say that they are here, in this town."

The surprise was almost impossible to keep off of his face. "Here? What for?"

"For your brother, of course."

"Ari?"

Vash nodded. "And not just them. Plenty of ghost speakers have been flocking to this place, all with the single goal of capturing him. My family is no different. I just thought it fair to warn you, since this way makes it more fun."

"But why would they want Ari? He has nothing to do with our world," Erik insisted.

Vash looked somewhat disappointed. "You still haven't figured it out? Well... no matter." he turned, and began walking away, lifting a hand in farewell. "Just keep a close eye on him, Erik. And don't worry- I'm sure that by Friday all your questions will be answered."

Erik watched him leave, half in disgust half in interest. Were Vash and his family friends or enemies? He shook his head. They meant harm to Ari. Therefore, they were enemies, no question about it.

* * *

**America and Canada! **

**I always knew I wanted them in the story, even if I didn't know what they were supposed to do. But this chapter was fun to write, despite how fast-paced it was. **

**Even if my plot is somewhat mapped out, I'm still a little hazy on where I'm going with this... yeah, still. But whatever. It'll go somewhere.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I somehow feel so accomplished today. Like... two or three chapters in one day.**

**This is getting fun! Please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 6

It was the same thing the next night, too. Or rather, almost the same thing.

_"My name's Matthew."_

The other North American Brother arrived.

_"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ari."_

In some flashes, he smiled warmly, reaching out his hand as though asking Ari for acceptance of friendship. Other times, he had a grin as wicked as his brother's, purple fire blazing in his eyes. And the rarest times, the most terrifying ones, he was a polar bear, reared up on his hind legs and roaring out his anger.

_"I know you must be bored with this dream, and I apologize for that. But if you can just wait a little bit longer, I promise you that something fun will happen."_

At least he never appeared splattered in blood.

_"Just a little bit longer."_

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Ha, did you see the look on that kid's face? Man, he was terrified!" Alfred laughed loudly as soon as he had woken up.

Matthew sat up in a calmer fashion, rubbing an eye and turning to look at his brother's bed next to his own. "Quiet down, Al. We don't want to get another complaint from our neighbors. The walls are thin in this hotel."

"Hmph," Alfred pouted. "They wouldn't be acting so stupid if they knew what we could do." his head suddenly snapped up, a childish grin on his face and an all-to-familiar twinkle in his eye. "Mattie, I just got-!"

"The greatest idea in the heroic history of greatest ideas?" his brother finished the sentence drily.

Alfred gaped. "Whoa, how'd you know? Can you read minds or some- oh, never mind, stupid question." he crawled out from underneath his covers, and sat cross-legged, facing Matthew as he continued. "You did a pretty good job last night, Mattie. I mean, not nearly as awesome as me, but still not bad." A frown suddenly came upon his face. "Although, I don't get why you said your name. Wasn't that kinda dangerous?"

"It can't be worse than you giving away our title," Matthew replied. "There are many people in the world named Matthew, but only one pair called the North American Brothers."

Alfred shrugged, waving a hand dismissively. "Well, it was for effect, you know? It was a good way to wrap up our... conversation."

"Even more so, was it really necessary for you to cover yourself in blood? And that expression of yours... honestly, even I was a little scared of you, Al."

"Yeah?" Alfred looked more excited than troubled. "Haha, awesome! Score one for the hero! Our point was to scare the kid, anyway, so why not take it to the max, right? I mean, even you went all polar bear on him."

Matthew hugged his stuffed bear closer to his chest. "That's just because I wanted to look scary..."

His brother stood up, and bounced over to his bed, plopping down beside him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "No worries about that, Mattie. When you had that freaky maniac grin on your face? Shit, that was terrifying! It looked weird on your face, too, but in a good way!"

"In a good way, he says..."

"What? It's the truth!" Alfred insisted in his whiny tone of voice.

Matthew sighed, shrugging his brother's arm off and getting out of the bed. "Alright, Al, whatever you say. I'm going to go take a shower now. What do you say we go to McDonalds for breakfast later?"

The blue-eyed man leaned forward. "Whooooa, you mean it? Like, legit?"

"Sure."

"Awesome!" Alfred leapt off the bed, dancing around the room in excitement. "Haha! You're the best, Mattie! Love you!"

Matthew smiled at his brother's open emotion. _Honestly... it's like sometimes he forgets he's supposed to be the older one._ A thorn of worry suddenly stabbed at him, causing his smile to disappear and panic to start fluttering in his chest. _That's right... what'll happen if our powers aren't enough? What if we can't end up getting Ari? There are plenty of other, more powerful ghost speakers already here in this town. What if we can't do it? If we fail... both of us will..._

"Mattie? Didn't you say you wanted to take a shower?"

Matthew blinked back to reality, instantly sighting Alfred's curious blue gaze. "What? Oh... yeah. Right."

"Don't be so out of it all the time," Alfred scolded him lightly. "You kinda freaked me out there. I thought... never mind." His usual carefree grin appeared on his face. "Just hurry up, would ya? I'm hungry!"

Matthew nodded, and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. "Sorry, Al. I'll be quick."

"You'd better be!"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Alfred stepped outside, taking in a deep breath and exhaling loudly. "Cold! Refreshing, huh, Mattie?"

His brother, still straightening out his thick bright red sweater, followed. After a few moments of taking in the glacial wind, he nodded. "It's a relief. Sometimes hotels can be too stuffy. So, you think you can find your way back to that McDonalds we saw yesterday?"

"No problem!" Alfred boasted. "I live for this kind of stuff!"

"I don't think that's a good thing, Al..."

"Yeah, well, whatever."

The taller man stuffed his hands into his pockets and strode away, quickly followed by Matthew. They walked for a while, holding idle conversation as they went. Alfred would talk about helping the world through incredibly idiotic tasks, Matthew would point out the flaws in them, Alfred would whine, Matthew would apologize and try to calm him down, and then Alfred would go on again about saving the world.

The usual for the two brothers.

Until something familiar caught Matthew's eye. He stopped in his tracks, tugging on Alfred's arm to get him to stop as well. At Al's questioning gaze, Matthew pointed at the other side of the park they'd been walking beside. Alfred followed his finger, and when he saw what his brother had seen, an unusually dark grin crept across his face.

"Looks like the kid's heading for school, huh?"

"He's walking all by himself," Matthew observed. "Does he always go alone?"

Alfred lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "Who cares? Just look at our situation, Mattie. He's alone, and right there, completely unsuspecting. We can grab him now! We might never have another chance like this again."

"What? Now? I thought we were going to eat breakfast. We can't just drag him into McDonalds with us," Matthew pointed out.

Clearly his brother hadn't thought of that.

"McDonalds, or Ari? McDonalds, or Ari?" Alfred folded his arms against his chest, obviously in deep thought. "McDonalds is life. Ari is... actually, he kind of counts for life, too, doesn't he?" he let out a loud groan. "Mattie, what should we do?"

"Well, what you said just now is true," Matthew sounded thoughtful. "We may never have another chance as easy as this one again. And besides, we do go to McDonalds a lot. Maybe we should just sacrifice this one time and use it to capture Ari. Is that alright, Al?"

Alfred grinned, giving his brother a firm thumbs-up. "Got it! So, let's screw with his brain!"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Ari took a step forward, and then stumbled. He straightened up quickly, glancing down at the ground to see what had made him trip. Strangely, there was nothing there. Shrugging it off as nothing, he continued on his way to school.

_"Hey, kid."_

The man, covered head to toe in blood, flashed before his eyes. So suddenly it was like an illusion, but so lifelike that it had to have been there. Ari immediately froze, eyes widening in horror as the images flickered back and forth. The blue-eyed red-stained demon. The violet-eyed gently smiling man. Faster and faster they went, until they almost seemed like the same figure.

_"Remember what I told you a couple nights ago?"_

_"The fun's finally here, Ari."_

_"Well, do you remember or not?"_

Ari opened his mouth to speak, but his tongue suddenly felt dry. "The North... the North..."

Finally, the flickering stopped, revealing two men standing side by side. One with an all-too-familiar grin and dripping with blood. The other with a smile too pure and a face too kind.

_"Here we go."_

_"The North American Brothers!"_

Both of them suddenly lunged forward. Any part of his brain trying to comprehend what was happening immediately shut down, and Ari found his body relying on pure instinct as he scrambled back. The brothers appeared where he'd been standing moments ago, neither of them looking particularly amused.

_"You look terrified."_

_"It's okay, just relax and have fun."_

They moved forward again, and Ari jumped backwards.

"Stay away," he snapped, his voice coming out more controlled than he'd expected it to. "What business do you have with me, anyways?"

_"A kid like you shouldn't ask those questions."_

_"You're too young to understand right now. Maybe we'll explain later."_

Ari growled, his fear suddenly turning into annoyance and irritation. "I have the right to know now. And you will explain!"

Without warning, two figures appeared in front of him, so suddenly that Ari's heart almost stopped. Their backs were turned to him, so that both were facing the North American Brothers. The man, the taller one of the two, was nearly as large as Matthias, and his hairstyle certainly resembled the nineteen-year-old's as well, except it stood up straighter. His female companion was considerably smaller, and had shoulder-length light brown hair, in which a black headband was nestled.

The man coughed lightly, and then shot a glare at the brothers. "Scram."

Both of them looked confused, and the purple-eyed man even looked slightly worried, but neither moved an inch.

The large man before Ari seemed annoyed at their hesitation. "I said, scram! Or do you want to wait until I kill one of you? It would be easy, taking the life of sneaky mind-benders like you. Not any problem, at all."

The brothers practically gaped at his threat, and the next second they'd completely disappeared, not even a trace of them left.

"Idiots," the man snorted. He half turned, glaring down at Ari, and then taking out a pipe from his pocket and lighting it. Placing it between it lips, he inhaled deeply, and let out a long sigh. "They think they're tough, but at the slightest threat they'll turn tail and run. They're cowards, no matter how scary they first appear."

The woman had also turned, revealing friendly green eyes and a cat-like smile as she looked at Ari. "Hi there! Sorry we came a little late. You're not hurt, are you, Ari?"

He watched both of them warily. "Do I know you two?"

"Hmph," the man exhaled again. "Apparently not."

"So...?"

The woman flashed an apologetic smile. "Sorry, we can't really explain right now. I mean, you kind of have to get to school, don't you? We'll be at your place later, though, so we'll give you the answers you want once you get home, does that sound okay?"

Crap! School!

"Fine... whatever." Ari walked past the two, ignoring the urge to look at them again, and then immediately ran off, trying not to imagine their gazes burning into his back.

_What's happening to my life?_

* * *

**Lame ending... I just couldn't figure out how to wrap it up well enough.**

**So yeah, this chapter was mainly focused on Alfred and Matthew. I dunno, I just like them. They were okay, right? Not too out of character?**

**Also, let's say hypothetically that I was going to put Netherlands and Belgium into the story. Hypothetically. Would anyone happen to have any good names for them? And remember, this is _totally hypothetical. Totally._**

**Thanks a bunch, and have an awesome rest of your life!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Took a bit of a while to put this up... blame homework, like everyone else does.**

**So, thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions for Netherlands' and Belgium's human names! The majority of people said Lars and Bella, so I just went with those. **

**Anyways, please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 7

"They failed..." Mei observed, watching as the brothers disappeared instantly. Her gaze shifted slightly to the larger man, who had turned to talk to Ari and was now smoking a pipe. "That guy must be pretty dangerous to have scared off the North American Brothers without even touching them. What do you think, Xiang?"

Her partner eyed the threesome, frowning when Ari suddenly dashed off. He glanced back at the man and woman who had saved the boy, except now they were looking right back. "... They shouldn't be difficult to beat. Come on. We have to report back to Yao."

Mei hesitated briefly, but when Xiang began walking away, she quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind. "There are already so many people trying to get Ari... we can't beat all of them."

"We'll try," he replied simply. "And if we can do it, even better."

"But still-."

Xiang glanced over his shoulder, an almost exasperated look on his face. "Stop worrying, Mei. It will work out, whether in our favor or someone else's. For now, all we do is follow Yao's orders, and try to get Ari for ourselves. Is that clear?"

Mei stared at him for a few moments, and then nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Now let's go."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"The North American brothers did _what_?"

Lars barely flinched at Erik's raised voice, instead leaning back against the thick tree trunk and continuing evenly, "As I said, they attacked Ari. It seemed they were toying with him for a bit- they certainly weren't snatching him outright and making away. I suppose that's good for us, since it gave Bella and I enough time to intervene."

Erik hardly looked comforted, instead pacing around the graveyard in distress. "Is he alright? He didn't get hurt?"

"Not a scratch on him," Bella assured the tenth grader. "He was just surprised for a few moments, but he soon recovered. Don't worry."

"Don't worry? Ghost speakers from all over the world are coming here to attack my younger brother for reasons I don't even know and you're telling me not to worry?" Erik demanded. His eyes were wide, bright blonde hair spiking out everywhere in his surprise. This was probably the most blunt emotion he'd shown in years, his uncaring barrier finally having been broken down.

"Freaking out certainly isn't going to do much," Lars pointed out, looking annoyed at Erik's outburst. "But besides that." he shifted his position slightly, his pipe bobbing up and down in his mouth. "You said you didn't know why all the ghost speakers were coming. Are you serious about that?"

Erik paused, obviously trying to calm himself down. He ran a hand through his hair, flattening it, and looked curiously at the Dutchman. "I am. Why? Is there something I don't know about Ari?"

"A lot, judging by what you're telling us," Lars replied.

Bella tilted her head to one side, looking almost like a cautious but curious sparrow. "You're his older brother, though... how could you not know?"

"I've heard that before," Erik muttered, an unpleasant memory of Vash flashing in his mind. "But I never managed to figure it out. What's so special about Ari? He can't even see ghosts- he should have nothing to do with our world."

Lars scoffed. "For a prodigy you seem to know nothing. Ari has practically everything to do with our world. He's the key to it."

"The key...?" Erik looked lost for a few moments longer, before a shock of realization suddenly hit him. "Ari? You must be kidding! It... it couldn't be Ari!"

The Dutch shrugged. "You know how it goes- his powers will awaken on his thirteenth birthday. This Friday, isn't it? You and your cousins should act fast if you want to keep him safe. Bella and I will help, of course, but it's a matter of what you're going to do and how you're going to protect him from the rest of the world."

"What? But... what can we do?"

Bella smiled sympathetically. "Well, it's not clear for now but... come on, you're a genius, aren't you? We'll figure something out!"

Somehow, that didn't reassure him.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Alfred hastily gobbled down his Sausage McMuffin, and then snapped up his hash brown in a few quick bites before starting on another one. He barely paused for either a breath or a sip of coffee as he ate, instead opting to swallow down his fury with his breakfast. Matthew ate his own maple syrup-drowned-pancakes calmly, although it was clear that he wasn't in the best of moods, either. Both were silent, neither wanting to mention the failure that had happened only fifteen minutes earlier.

When both were finally finished, Alfred quickly dumped the greasy wrappers into the trash and the brothers left the restaurant.

"So... what should we do now, Al?" Matthew asked quietly. His voice had returned to the ghostly whisper of his childhood, when he had been shy and unsure of everything, when he had been unable to see spirits. To his annoyance, his voice seemed to automatically fade like that whenever he experienced huge humiliation or disappointment. It certainly didn't help getting over said disappointment.

Alfred didn't seem too thrilled about it, either. "That bastard... he was just bluffing. I can't believe we actually fell for something like that. We're the North American Brothers! We're one of the strongest ghost speakers in the world." here, he turned his head to look at his brother, and Matthew found himself surprised at the resolve in his eyes. "No matter what, we have to capture Ari. No exceptions. Right, Mattie?"

Matthew hesitated. His brother's determination was admirable, but oftentimes it lead him to doing stupid, dangerous things. "Al... I get the feeling that guy really meant what he said. He might be stronger than us. I can't let you get hurt because of something I did. Can you please just swallow your pride and let me take-."

"No!" Alfred's sudden yell made the younger twin jump. Alfred, upon realizing this, slowly calmed himself down, but when he spoke again it was obvious it was taking a huge amount of effort for him to keep his voice under control. "We're in this together, okay, Mattie? What's happening to us isn't your fault. And besides, when we finally get Ari, it won't even matter." He grinned, although it seemed painfully forced. "It'll work out. I promise. And when the hero promises something, he never breaks it."

Matthew resisted a sigh. Alfred's loyalty was incredible, but it hurt him every day to see his brother suffering from the same curse because of him. It should be Matthew, and only Matthew. He remembered the innocent questions his older brother used to ask him since they'd begun the hunt for the Ghost World's key.

_"Hey, Mattie? Stupid question, but... what was our phone number again?"_

_"Um... sorry, Mattie, but can you remind me what our tenth birthday was like?"_

_"What's our address?"_

_"Which elementary school did we go to?"_

_"Why do you always carry around that bear... er, what was his name again?"_

Okay, so Matthew couldn't answer that last one, either. But the scariest part was that whenever Alfred asked him those questions, it always took Matthew a while to answer them. They were both slowly losing their memories... and it was all because of him. Alfred didn't need to suffer alongside him, it wasn't fair.

"Al, please," he tried again.

"No."

"But Al."

"I said no!" Alfred's voice rose again. "How many times do I need to tell you? This. Isn't. Your. Fault! Stop blaming yourself, already. It was my choice, anyway. Now come on. We're going to pay another visit to Ari's head."

Before Matthew could reply, the blue-eyed man had already stalked off, leaving his younger brother with no choice but to follow.

_What if we can't win? What if we can't beat the other ghost speakers? What if we can't get Ari? If worse comes to worse I guess I could just force Al to give me the full curse... but... I don't want to forget. I don't want Al to be all alone._

Matthew paused briefly, and then continued walking, this time his steps sounding clearly and with a purpose as he went.

_Al's right. No matter what, we have capture Ari. We can't afford to lose._

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

At exactly 2:57 pm, Kiku Honda approached the school's principal in her office and began speaking in a soft but firm voice. It had a low, soothing tone to it, yet underneath, if you listened hard enough, was a certain ordering sound. He told her, very calmly, that Ari would be away for a few weeks to go to his grandmother's funeral, and probably would not be able to return to school until the next month. He explained that even after that Ari and his family would be moving to where his grandmother lived, as he had most likely inherited her property and such. He told her not to worry, and to accept it without question.

The principal agreed.

And at 3:03 pm, Kiku told Ari to follow him.

Ari agreed.

* * *

**It's like I'm just throwing in characters I like and pretending they actually have a role in this...**

**So, just out of curiosity, can anyone figure out Kiku's powers? Because yes, he does have some. And yes, the story is finally moving forward. And yes, someone will die in the next few chapters. Actually, that's more of a maybe.**

**Whatever. Thanks for reading! And if anyone wants to request for something to happen or for any characters to appear, just feel free! I'll slip it in somehow, I promise!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Eheh... I feel compelled to apologize. ****Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I kept on rewriting it since I never really liked how it went... and then I got distracted by a bunch of other anime... but hey, at least I got around to updating, right?**

**The requests for characters were Russia and his sibings, Latvia, Turkey, and Egypt, but I also threw in some others to make it all work out. Also, I gave Ukraine the name Maria, just to let you guys know.**

**Okay, so enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"_M-Maria?"_

"_Ivan! Natalia! What are you two still doing up? It's way past your bedtime…"_

"_We couldn't sleep… can you tell us a story?"_

"_Please?"_

_Maria bit back a smile at her younger siblings' pleading eyes. They both certainly looked sleepy… there must be something in particular that they needed to hear. "Alright. Go back to your room, and I'll be there in a bit."_

_The delight on their faces was unmistakable, and the seven-year-old boy smiled broadly. "Yay! Come on, Natalia! You can pick which story she'll tell." He took his sister's hand and led her back to their room, where he quickly made sure that she was comfortable enough in her bed before crawling into his own._

_Moments later, Maria appeared, pulling up a chair between the two beds and then looking at her sister kindly. "So, Natalia, what sort of story would you like me to tell?"_

_The youngest child squirmed slightly under her covers, her gaze switching back and forth between her older siblings. She wanted to pick a story that Ivan would also enjoy listening to, and that Maria would have fun telling. Finally, she came up with one. "Can you… tell us about the key? To the Ghost World?"_

"_The key?" Maria looked surprised. "You may not be able to understand it all… it's a little complicated."_

_Natalia shrugged. "S'okay. Ivan's curious about it, too, I think."_

"_Ivan?" when the boy nodded his confirmation, Maria leaned back in her chair to think about how to begin the tale. After a few moments, she began._

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

_"Obviously whoever is the key to the Ghost World has some awesome powers," Gilbert stretched out on the sofa near his brother's bed. "Not nearly as awesome as mine, of course, but still pretty awesome. Pretty powerful."_

_Ludwig leaned forward, eager to learn more about what was supposed to be one of the strongest ghost speakers in the world. "What kind of powers? What can the key actually do?"_

_"Hmm, let's see..." Gilbert took a long swig of beer from the bottle he'd placed on the floor when he first lay down, and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, rumor has it that the key has the power to destroy the abilities of any one ghost speaker, or enhance them tenfold. They can also give or take ghost speaker abilities to a normal human being." He glanced over at his little brother. "Intense stuff, huh?"_

_"Is that all?" Ludwig sounded almost unimpressed._

_Gilbert snorted. "Are you kidding? Of course not! West, I've barely scratched the surface of what the Ghost World's key can do."_

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

_"The Ghost World's key is basically an embodiment of all the secrets and powers of ghost speakers and the Ghost World itself," Vash explained. "Because it's so powerful, all aforementioned things are placed into a ghost speaker's body only once every millennium. For the same reason, unlike normal ghost speakers who receive their abilities at birth, it takes thirteen years for the chosen key's mental and physical state to sort through all the ancient information, and therefore their powers are finally awakened when they turn thirteen. Of course, it is not uncommon for the powers to emerge a few days before or after the thirteenth birthday."_

_Lilli blinked, trying to absorb all the new information. "And... it's around now that this millennium's Ghost World key should be arriving, right?"_

_Vash nodded. "If my calculations are correct, he should be around your age right now. In other words, it'll only be a few more years before the most powerful ghost speaker in the world awakens."_

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

_"I don't see why you both would have to know this," Arthur glanced down from his teacup at the younger boys staring at him from their seated position on the floor. "After all, it's only Alfred who is the ghost speaker among you two, right?"_

_The violet-eyed boy flinched slightly, but his brother only leaned forward eagerly. "Mattie just has nothing better to do. Now come on, can't you tell us? It's not like it's hurting anyone if he hears it or not."_

_Arthur sighed, and put down his cup. "I suppose so. Now, you wanted to know the most powerful ability of the Ghost World's key?"_

_A determined nod came from the blue-eyed boy._

_The Englishman thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Of course there's no question about it. The most powerful ability is the wish-granting one. Whoever is present the very second the key turns thirteen will have one wish, any wish, granted. If there are two people present, two wishes will be granted and so forth. Do you understand?"_

_"So if I was there when the key turned thirteen, I could ask for a lifetime supply of hamburgers and they would give it to me?" Alfred asked hopefully._

_"If you want to put it that way, yes," Arthur confirmed._

_Alfred grinned. "Awesome! Wouldn't that be great, Mattie? Hey, I have an idea! When we grow old enough, let's go looking for the key! And then, when we find him and he turns thirteen, I promise I'll give you some of my hamburgers."_

_"If we did, I could just ask for a lifetime supply of maple syrup," Matthew responded in his whispery voice._

_"Sure, whatever. Let's just do it together!"_

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"T-T-Toris?"

The Lithuanian turned at the call of his name, smiling affably when he saw his co-worker. "Hi, Raivis. What's up? What did Mr. Braginski want?"

Raivis ducked his head nervously. "Er... you have a new m-mission. Mr. Braginski said that you and Feliks should go to Mr. Wang's family and ask them if they received any more news about the Ghost World's key. Y-you know, since they haven't really been making contact with us lately..."

"I see." Toris nodded. "Thanks, Raivis. I'll go get Feliks, and we'll leave in about ten minutes. Just tell Mr. Braginski that if he asks you, okay?"

"Got it..."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Yong Soo! We've got visitors. Come up here."

"Eh?" The Korean turned around from his watch on Ari. He looked up the stairs to see Xiang staring down at him. "You want me to go up? But don't I have to keep an eye on this guy?"

"I'm in a cell," Ari growled. "What do you possibly think I could do?"

Yong Soo glanced at him. "Well, you _are_ the key to the Ghost World... there's no telling what you could do."

Ari sighed. "Again with the Ghost World... I already told you! I have nothing to do with your ghosts! I can't even see them."

"And we've already told you," Xiang answered coolly, "your powers will awaken this Friday. Until then you're as weak as any other human. And because you'll be this weak until Friday, I'm sure it will be fine if we leave you along for a few minutes. Now come on, Yong Soo. We don't want to keep our guests waiting."

"Roger that, da ze!" The Korean bounded up the stairs, already convinced by the Hongkonger's reasoning.

Ari let out a frustrated noise, and slammed the cement floor with his fist. This was so stupid! Erik was the one who could see ghosts, not him! Why did he have to get dragged into it? This was all Erik's fault...

"As soon as I get out I am so going to kill you."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Berwald kept a level tone with his raging cousin as he replied in his low voice, "Ex'ctly wh't it so'nds like."

"Ari wasn't at school when we went to go pick him up," Tino took over. "The teachers all said that someone else had already taken him, and that that person had the consent from you."

"Consent?" Erik raged, all traces of his previous cool exterior completely gone. "I didn't give anybody any consent except for you two!"

Tino winced at the Norwegian's harsh tone. "Maybe it was Lars or Bella who picked him up?" he suggested meekly.

"Doubtful," Matthias spoke up from his position on his uncle's armchair. "Lars told me that he and Bella were gonna go check out the other ghost speakers in the town today. They wouldn't have bothered picking up Ari, especially without telling us first."

Erik growled. "Why didn't I act sooner? I knew that Ari was in danger, but I waited until somebody had to confirm it for me… and by now it's too late. Damn it! There are tons of other ghost speakers in this town right now—anyone could have taken him!"

"The N'rth Amer'can Br'thers?" Berwald suggested. "They could be 'pset 'bout their loss er'lier."

"No, after what Lars said they probably wouldn't have attacked for a while," Erik dismissed. His eyes narrowed to cobalt slits as he thought. There had been rumors that the Asians had been lurking around, and the Soviet had recently received news of the Key, but the one picture that kept on nagging him from the back of his head was that of a bright blonde boy with serious green eyes… "Vash! I'll bet it was him and his family!"

"You mean Gilbert?" Tino gasped. They were a mysterious group, but rumor had it that they were incredibly strong throughout the Ghost World.

Berwald frowned, looking unconvinced. "Wh't makes ya say th't?"

"He's been threatening and challenging me every day since he and his family arrived here. He even went as far as to drag Ari into this, never mind that Ari is the center of all the trouble." Erik scowled, suddenly bearing a strong resemblance to his younger brother. "It must've been him."

Matthias grinned. "Well, if you're sure, Erik, then let's go beat'em up." He stood up, stretching his arms with a satisfied noise. "I was getting bored, anyways."

"This isn't a rescue mission, Matthias," Tino reminded him, an almost worried look in the Finn's eyes. "We're just trying to confirm that it was really them who took Ari. Try not to jump to conclusions when we're there."

"Ha! No worries!"

Berwald tilted his head to one side, but gave his agreement to join. Whenever anything involved Ari, Erik never truly thought clearly, but when it came to the Ghost World everything was better safe than sorry.

"Now that's that's settled," Erik took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm himself. "Let's go, then."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Wouldn't it be great... if cats could be like us?"

"Eh?" Sadiq shot an irritated glance at his companion next to him. "What're you talking about now?"

Heracles looked at him sleepily, blinking slowly in that infuriating way that drove the Turk crazy. "I mean... if cats could see ghosts and have abilities like ours... that'd be pretty cool, don't you think?"

"Tch. Don't even think about something as stupid as that. Cats are pests, and pests are never any good."

"If I recall correctly, you said the same thing to Gupta about his dogs... even though he hadn't previously mentioned anything about them."

"I could see it on his face! He had a stupid idea."

"... why are you always such a hypocrite, Sadiq?"

* * *

**Before anyone asks, yes, this Arthur is the same as Ari and Lilli's teacher. Now what could this mean?**

**I hope I cleared up some confusion about Ari and the Ghost World's key and stuff... and remember, you can still request characters! If you really want to see a whole bunch of random people come out of nowhere...**

**I can't promise I'll update again any time soon, but I will promise that I won't ever abandon this story.**

**Please review, and remember that feedback is always appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh, wow, I actually updated again. Sooner than I expected... like, way sooner. Ah, I'm getting that accomplished feeling that I never feel when I'm in school!**

**This chapter doesn't have nearly as much jumping around as the last one, but still a bit. Please enjoy it!**

* * *

"So, do you have like, any new info or whatever?" a loud voice drawled as the tapping of footsteps grew louder and louder. "'Cause Mr. Braginski's like, totally ticked that you guys haven't been contacting us lately." The footsteps stopped, right in front of the door to the basement. "Any particular reason for that?"

"Aside from the fact that we haven't received any new information?" Xiang's cool voice sounded. "No, not really. Don't tell me that's the whole reason your boss sent you two here."

"Well… kind of," a meeker tone this time, clearly a different person than the valley girl from earlier.

A loud scoff was audible. "So I guess you guys have nothing better to do than perform pointless missions, huh? Well, can't blame you… good reasons originated from Korea, of course!"

"Oh yeah? And like, what's that supposed to mean?"

"That I have better sense than you!"

"Ha! Don't make me laugh… like, da ze."

"Someone like you can _not_ steal my lines!"

"Someone like me? You mean someone who totally didn't originate from Korea?"

Ari groaned. From the sounds of it, two people from a seemingly allied group had visited the Asians to ask about _him_, and now they were in some stupid fight. Why'd it have to be right next to the basement, where he was being held in some ridiculous jail cell? Even as a prisoner he couldn't get any peace and quiet…

"Shut up, Yong Soo. Your yelling is annoying me."

"And could you be quiet, too, Feliks?"

A pause.

"Hmph…"

"Fine…"

_Finally. _Now, obviously the Asians weren't giving away that they had the Ghost World's key (no, he wasn't accepting it, he was simply role-playing… if you could understand that) and they were clearly hostile with this rival/ally group. Taking all his past experience, as in one with the North American Brothers, he could assume that a lot of spirit-seers wanted him, supposedly because being the key gave him incredible power. But if that was true, why wouldn't Erik tell him or at least try to protect him?

"I thought you were a ghost-seer, too, Erik," Ari muttered sarcastically. So either Erik had failed to live up to his title as a prodigy and ghost-seer, or he just didn't want to deal with his little brother. Somehow Ari was leaning more to the latter…

Whatever. So long as he was someone with great power, the chances that anyone who captured him wouldn't kill him were high. And once he actually _got_ the power, he could just bust his way out and head over to kill his stupid brother.

Again, he had not accepted it. He was role-playing.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Oh... it's you."

Vash stared dully at the glaring Norwegian and his equally hostile family on the mansion's front porch, carefully keeping a blank expression on his own face even as dozens of possibilities of why the Nordics would visit ran through his head. Perhaps they had finally realized what Ari was? That had certainly taken a while...

After a few moments of silence, Vash spoke again. "Can I help you?"

"Have you taken Ari?" Erik demanded.

Vash arched an eyebrow. "How direct... may I ask why you think that?"

Anger sparked in his cold blue eyes. "Don't screw with me. You know I have every damn reason to believe that you and your family _kidnapped Ari_."

"Ari's been kidnapped?" a soft voice piped up.

Vash's eyes widened slightly at the familiar sound, and as his sister stepped forward he quickly blocked her path with an outstretched arm so that she was still at least in the house. "Erik," he addressed the Norwegian coolly, trying not to show his surprise, "this is my younger sister, Lilli. She and Ari are in the same class. Lilli, this is Ari's older brother and cousins."

"It's very nice to meet you," Lilli nodded politely. "Now, what did I hear about Ari being kidnapped?"

The shortest cousin, the one dressed in light blue and wore a white hat, glanced at Erik nervously. "Um, maybe they didn't actually take Ari. You do tend to jump to conclusions whenever it involves him, Erik."

"That can't be right," Erik hissed in response. "There are hardly any other families around to take him."

"On the contrary, Erik," Vash interrupted, "there are plenty. I'm assuming that by now you have discovered that Ari is in fact the key to the Ghost World. Even if you and your Nordic family were unable to sense it when he was living in the same house as you, nearly every other ghost speaker in the world had. Haven't your friends in the cemetery told you? The North American Brothers, the Asians, Ivan's family, Sadiq's group, your friends Lars and Bella, even individuals have all arrived in this very town in this past week." he fixed Erik with an unimpressed gaze. "It seems your information hasn't quite been updated yet."

The second tallest one, the one clothed in red and black, blinked, looking shocked. "For real? There are that many already?"

"How cou'd we n't h've n'ticed?" The tallest and last one muttered.

"Don't take it personally."

Vash narrowed his eyes, and suddenly pulled Lilli in front of him, placing protective hands on her shoulders and also allowing the Austrian to reveal himself. Roderich appeared, stepping into the evening twilight with a polite yet somewhat cold smile.

"You Nordics never did have a proper judgment of how many ghost speakers are around you. Your powers simply don't allow you to sense others." Roderich let out a short chuckle. "It's not your fault if you can't tell what sort of power level the speakers around you have. And while we're on this topic, it also gives you a proper excuse on why you were the last ones to find out Ari was the key."

The red-and-black one growled, thrusting out an arm threateningly. "Are you making fun of us?"

"Perish the thought," Roderich replied in an almost mocking tone.

The smallest one gasped softly, and suddenly placed himself between the two families, which quickly resulted in the tallest one also pushing himself to the front. "We've already found out that they haven't taken Ari, so we shouldn't have any reason to fight anymore, right? And besides, they might know who did take him." he looked at Vash and Roderich pleadingly. "Your family is good at getting information, if the rumors are true. So, if you could, do you have any idea where my cousin is?"

Erik looked surprised at his cousin's little speech, but soon nodded slowly and again cast a hard glare at the Swiss and Austrian.

Vash and Roderich exchanged a glance, and Lilli looked up at her older brother. The cousins seemed to be having a wordless conversation through only their eyes, until finally, Vash spoke, "There's a retired ghost speaker who works in Lilli and Ari's school. Perhaps he knows what happened to your cousin since they were both there at the time of Ari's taking."

"R'tired?" The tallest one mumbled.

Roderich nodded. "Supposedly he was the mentor of the North American Brothers. Perhaps you've heard of him?"

All the Nordics seemed to be in deep thought, but it was Lilli who gave the sudden gasp and answered in surprise.

"You can't mean Mr. Kirkland?"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Arthur stepped into the fifth grade classroom, scanning it carefully for signs of his little brother before calling out impatiently, "Brat. Hurry up, it's time to go home."

Stupid Peter and his club activities, always having to stay in school until 6:00 pm. Granted, it did give Arthur time to grade homework and quizzes, but it was still a bother not to just go home directly and do it. Honestly, was studying and making petitions for micronations of the world really that important? Ever since Peter had heard about that old abandoned sea fort in the middle of nowhere he'd been obsessed with making it and others like it fully independent countries. But no matter how many times Arthur told him it was pointless and that Sealand would never be a country, Peter would still stubbornly persist.

"Be right there, Jerk Arthur!"

And there was also that infuriating nickname.

With a sigh, Arthur stepped to the side so that the doorway would be clear and leaned against the wall, allowing his thoughts to drift as Peter gathered his things. He hadn't heard from Alfred or Matthew in a while... were they still searching for the Ghost World's key? Ignoring the dark feeling he got whenever they came to his mind, he told himself that of course they still were, because someone like Alfred would never give up the chance to be the hero for his brother, and someone like Matthew would always dutifully follow. Had they gotten a new lead on where the key was? Actually, if he remembered correctly, the key should be turning thirteen sometime this year. The North American Brothers would have to hurry if they wanted to save themselves.

"Jerk Arthur! I'm ready."

Arthur blinked out of his trance, glancing down at his brother with a haughty look. "Well it's about time. Now come on. I'll bet you're hungry, and you probably have a lot of homework to do once we get home."

Peter stuck out his tongue. "You too, Jerk Arthur. Bet you've got _so_ much stuff to grade! Bet you're getting really upset just thinking about all of it!"

"Untrue." Arthur bonked the fifth grader none too lightly on the head before turning to leave. "You're what's getting me upset. However, I will consider forgiving you and giving you a chocolate bar if you do a favor for me."

"Chocolate?" Peter's eyes lit up as he followed. Clearly he didn't care about the former part of the sentence. "Alright, what do you want me to do? I don't mind grading the stuff for you- I like giving people D's!"

Arthur waved a hand dismissively. "It has nothing to do with school. I need you to track some people."

"Oh..." Peter didn't sound nearly as excited after that. "Lemme guess... the North American Brothers, right? You want me to find out where they are."

"How'd you know?"

"Duh, you're too obvious. They're the _only_ people you ever want me to track." Peter rolled his eyes. "I don't see why I have to, though. I don't know them, I've never even met them. They don't concern me."

"Don't you remember the chocolate?"

"Something like using my powers for people like them isn't worth only one chocolate bar."

This time it was Arthur who rolled his eyes, holding the car door open as he did so to let Peter see it clearly. He then slid into the driver's seat, starting the car and driving out of the parking lot before replying, "You're such a spoiled brat. You know if I still had my powers I would do it myself."

"And who's fault is it that you don't?"

Arthur paused, glancing briefly at the rearview mirror to see the boy staring pointedly out the window. He knew that no matter how much Peter denied it, the cheeky brat secretly hated and blamed the North American Brothers, only viewing them as the pair who had stolen one of the most famous ghost speaker in the world's powers. The pair who had stolen his brother's powers. The Englishman sighed, and slowed to a stop at a red light, turning his head over his shoulder to look directly at Peter.

"Three chocolate bars. And I'll treat you to whatever dinner you want tonight."

Peter gave him a skeptical glance.

"Relax, brat, I'm serious. Track down the Brothers, and I'll give you those." Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar, tossing it at the fifth grader. "Here, you can have one early. Be grateful I'm letting you get fat."

Peter quickly unwrapped the candy, taking a large bite and chewing delightfully, savoring the taste. The light turned green, and the car started moving again. Once Peter had finished the chocolate, he washed it down with a bottle of juice, and then gave his consent.

"Fine, I'll find the dumb Brothers. You'd better hold up your end of the promise."

Arthur smirked. "Of course."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Hey, Gupta! It's about time! I was about to strangle myself from hearing too much of the Greek idiot's babbling."

"Did you find out where the key is?"

The Egyptian nodded silently.

"So?" Sadiq stood up, marching to the top of the hill where his quiet comrade stood and towering over him once he got there. "Anywhere nearby?"

Gupta didn't break his gaze away from the Turk when he answered. "Yao Wang."

"The Asians?" Heracles joined them, yawning widely before continuing. "That's... bothersome."

"As in annoying," Sadiq growled. "Anything the Asians are dealing with, Ivan's group is always involved. Ugh, I don't feel like dealing with maniacs like him..."

"Well, we don't technically have to get the key," Heracles pointed out mildly. "It's not as though we have a real reason or motivation... I'm not sure if I even know why we're searching for it. If it gets too tiring, there's always the next life to consider."

Sadiq scoffed. "Always with the 'next life'. Well, here's a thought, genius. What if we're not ghost speakers in the next life?"

"Than there always the one after that."

"... forget you."

* * *

**Okay, abrupt ending, but whatever.**

**Anyway, there were some things that people said that I always forgot to answer/clarify, therefore I would like to use the time now to do so before I forget again.**

**DottedSight asked where Hungary is in all this, and so I'd like to point out that when I was offering which family should be the "new" family, I said MAYBE Hungary would be included, but ultimately decided not to throw her in. I might still slip her in, though...**

**And then an anonymous reviewer who didn't include a pen name asked if telling Toris his mission would be Latvia's only role, and I'm gonna say of course not! Any character I put in this story will have something big happen to them, be it relevant to Ari or not. In fact, Latvia was supposed to have a big part in this chapter but I finally decided it was getting too long. Next time for sure!**

**Okay, let's see... the character-getting-killed off part will actually happen later than I expected, but I will make sure that it does happen, because I think that's the whole reason I started this story.**

**Alright, this is getting too long so I'll just shut up now. Thanks for reading! And if you have any questions or requests, please don't hesitate!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay... this chapter does have a few swear words in it, just to warn you guys. I'm wondering I should change the rating, since there will probably be more in future chapters...**

**I apologize that this chapter is a little rushed, but I don't think I'll be able to update again for a while, so...**

**Without further ado, please enjoy!**

**_Edit 2/1/11:_ Just changed a scene and fixed up some minor stuff, nothing important...**

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"New plan," Sadiq ordered. "We save the kid, he owes us, as such is the way of life. Therefore, all we gotta do is bust him out and keep him 'till he turns thirteen. Simple, right?"

"Sounds... full of flaws," Heracles replied with a tired yawn.

Gupta shrugged.

The Turk rolled his eyes, not caring that the two others couldn't even see that. "This is easy, so long as we play our powers correctly. Gupta, you're gonna go into the kid's body one more time. Don't worry, I'll take care of this one here. Heracles, as soon as Gupta's done that you're just gonna have to teleport in, grab him, and come back. See how easy it is?"

"Except he's in the Asians' household..." the Greek pointed out. "It's harder to teleport in and out of another ghost speaker's territory... the Family Boundaries get in the way. It'll take a while."

"But according to Gupta, this is only their temporary house, right?" Sadiq glanced at the Egyptian, who nodded. "And since it's only temporary, it should be a little easier. Besides, he's just sitting in a cell. We should have plenty of time. So what do you say?"

Gupta tipped his head to one side, and then back to its original position. "I have no objections."

Heracles nodded. "There's also the matter of... how your powers are useless in this sort of situation, Sadiq. Such is the way of life, you'll owe us when we get back... That's correct, isn't it?"

"Don't get so cocky, brat. After all, this entire thing is my plan." Sadiq smirked. "Now get going. The sooner we get the key the better."

"Sir yes sir."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Remember, Feliks, we're just going there to ask questions about the key," Toris reminded his friend as they walked. "Don't try to pick any unnecessary fights. We're not going to be in our own territory, meaning we'll probably be outnumbered."

"I know, I know," the blonde waved his hand dismissively. "Like, stop being such a worrywart. I'll totally keep quiet."

Toris shook his head with a slight smile. "I somehow doubt that. Just don't say anything that could provoke them, understand?"

"I got it." Feliks peered at the Lithuanian suspiciously. "What? Does your second sight or whatever tell you something?" he suddenly looked excited. "Will something like, fun happen? Like, maybe we'll find the key and then Mr. Braginski will stop being so fussy about everything?"

"Dream on," Toris nudged the Pole good-naturedly. "Never mind, it's not anything like that. Let's just keep on going. We're almost there."

Feliks grinned. "Roger that."

_That's right, nothing's going to happen. We're just going to ask a few questions, and leave. No arguments, no fights. _Toris told himself firmly. _It's going to start, go, and end peacefully. I'll make sure of it._

_But still... what's this horrible feeling I'm getting?_

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

The cellphone buzzed in his pocket, and Raivis quickly answered it. "E-Eduard?"

_"What's with that shaky tone? Did something happen? Never mind, yes, it's me. They've arrived."_

"Oh, okay," Raivis nodded, momentarily forgetting that his co-worker on the other end couldn't see him. "I'll go tell Mr. Braginski. I'll call you back soon and give you your next orders. For now, just... just wait there, alright?"

_"Got it."_

Raivis hung up, took a deep breath, and then hurried into his boss' office, but not before knocking politely first. "M-Mr. Braginski? Eduard just called... he said they just got there. What are his next orders?"

The Russian smiled broadly. "Ah, so they've already arrived? Toris is such a good boy... he always tries his hardest on his missions." he leaned back in the great armchair he was currently seated on, humming cheerfully. "Don't you agree, Raivis?"

"Y-yes, Mr. Braginski. Toris is a very hard worker..."

"Unlike that nuisance, Feliks," Ivan suddenly frowned, as though the very thought of the childish Pole brought down his mood. "Lazy, and always taking up Toris' time..." his fingers drummed softly against the side of the leather chair.

"That may be, but... his powers are useful, a-aren't they?" Raivis ducked his head nervously, hoping his words wouldn't further annoy his boss.

Ivan nodded slowly. "Da, that is true. They are quite useful. However..." and suddenly, the chilling smile was back, "they are not necessarily needed. Raivis, in three minutes kindly call Eduard and tell him to let go of it."

"L-let go...?"

"Don't worry, he'll understand." Ivan made a shooing gesture with his hand. "Once you've done that, you can help Maria with the laundry. Do make sure you do everything exactly the way she tells you to, da? Treat her with as much respect as you do me."

Raivis nodded. "Alright. Understood." Thank God it was with Maria. Out of the three siblings, she was the kindest, friendliest, and least insane. Today was his lucky day.

_Still... I wonder what Mr. Braginski has in mind. Why would he station Eduard outside of Wang Yao's house if Feliks and Toris were already going there?_

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Hello? Ah, yes, hi, Mr. Braginski." the change in the Lithuanian was obvious. He was suddenly more nervous, more cautious, careful with his words and tone lest he accidentally cause the barely-dormant volcano to erupt. "Y-yes, we're already here. What? ... but what about Feliks?"

At the mention of his name, Feliks narrowed his eyes. What was their boss doing, calling in the middle of their questioning the Asians? At least Xiang and Yong Soo were keeping quiet... Still, there was something a bit off about this.

"Alright, I understand. Bye." Toris shut his cellphone, and then turned an apologetic look on the others. "I'm sorry, something urgent has come up. I'll need to leave now. Feliks, you can continue this by yourself right?"

The blonde blinked in surprise. "Uh... yeah, sure, totally. Like, see you later, then?"

Toris nodded. "I'll come pick you up in half an hour." he gave a friendly smile to the Asians. "It was nice seeing you two again. I'll be taking my leave now." And with that said, he turned and headed out the door, barely giving the remaining three a second glance.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Let go of it?" Eduard repeated in disbelief. "He... he seriously told you that? Are you sure that's what he said?"

_"Y-yes, I'm sure. Why? What is he talking about, Eduard?"_

Well, if Mr. Braginski hadn't wanted to explain to Raivis, he probably shouldn't. "No... never mind. Forget it. I'll see you at home later, okay, Raivis?" He didn't wait for the Latvian's response, instead immediately hanging up and stuffing the phone back in his pocket.

Eduard leaned back against the tree with a heavy sigh, staring at the detonator in his hand tiredly. Let of it, the Russian had said, and something will explode. Of course Ivan hadn't told him just what would explode, but any idiot would be able to tell that it wasn't something that would end well.

Still... those were his orders. And unless he wanted to end up beaten to death, he would have to follow them.

So he let go.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

The house blew up...

The house _blew up_. As in, _exploded_. As in, _totally erupted into flames and is currently in the midst of destruction with **Feliks still inside**._

Fuck.

Toris gaped at the fire, completely unable to do anything else but stare. So the house was burning. More accurately, the crumbled remains of the house were burning. And Feliks was in there. But that didn't work, because if Feliks was in there, that would mean that Feliks was dead, and that wasn't possible.

Because Feliks couldn't die. It was impossible for Feliks to die. How many times had he heard the Pole compare himself to a phoenix? Falling down and rising back up again... phoenixes couldn't die, therefore Feliks couldn't, either.

It made sense... didn't it?

Still, maybe he should go and check, just to make sure... just to make sure that Feliks hadn't caught his foot in some ditch and was lying on the ground pouting childishly while a fire blazed around him. Just to make sure that when he got home, Feliks wouldn't be scolding him for "totally not helping me when like, the house freaking blew up!". Just to make sure that the Asians didn't find Feliks still alive and attack him, because obviously it was the Asians who had planted the bomb in the house in the first place.

Just to make sure...

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Oh shit..." Eduard stared open-mouthed at the blazing ruins. That had not been expected... So Mr. Braginski had wanted to get rid of whatever Asians were in the house, but along with Feliks? Now Toris was there again, screaming...

Well, this was gonna be awkward to go home to.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Something was wrong with Gupta.

For one thing, he was sweating like crazy and panting to no end. For another, his body was continuously jerking and making sudden movements. It would spasm, and he would cough, and all in all it just looked like he was dying.

Of course, he wasn't. Even if the other body he was currently inside of was crushed or whatever, Gupta's own spirit would always return to his original body. But still, wherever the key was, something was clearly going wrong.

Sadiq rubbed his chin nervously. It was taking the two longer than he'd expected it to. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...

And just like that they were back.

Heracles, pale and looking like a mess, sat up, clutching an unconscious silver-haired boy. Gupta simply remained lying down, breathing heavily and staring up at the evening sky. All three of them looked exhausted, and somehow a little charred. The brown jacket Heracles loved to wear was blackened in a few places, and his hair along with the kid's was singed.

"Uh... hey," Sadiq gave a small wave. "I'm guessing things didn't go exactly as planned?"

"Well..." Heracles set down the boy on the ground, and then took off his jacket, beating it so that a fine wave of ash plumed up. "The house blew up. But other than that it was fine."

Sadiq nodded. "Ah. Well, good job. We got the kid, and it seems like the Asians are temporarily disabled." he grinned, giving his allies a big thumbs-up, despite the fact that neither was looking at him. "Thanks to you guys, we're ahead of the game."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"_MATTHEW!"_

_Arthur raced across the room to where the small boy lay writhing, and his brother helplessly shook him half screaming half crying. The Englishman knelt down, examining them both before snapping at the older one. "What did you do? What happened to him?"_

_Alfred stared at him with fearful blue eyes, although whether it was from the harshness of his tone or the sight of seeing Matthew in pain Arthur couldn't tell. "I… he…"_

_Matthew suddenly let out a shrill wail, clutching his head and curling into tight ball. Tears streamed down his face from closed eyes as he sobbed pleadingly, "It hurts! It HURTS! Make it stop... Al, make it stop!"_

_"M-Mattie..."_

"_Alfred, what happened?"_

_"I don't know."_

_Arthur grabbed the boy's shoulders roughly, fixing him in a serious green stare. "Alfred, I'm not kidding. What happened to your brother?"_

_"I'm serious, I don't know!" Alfred wrenched himself free from his caretaker's grip, but didn't back away. "Mattie was just... I mean, we were playing and then this guy came up to us and asked if we were ghost speakers. And when Mattie said no, he said he could give him powers, but then... then... look, I don't know, okay? Just help him already!"_

_Arthur stared at him in shock. "A guy...? Where is he now?"_

_"He left..."_

_"I see." Arthur could ask more questions later. For now, his first priority was obvious. Leaning over the pained boy, Arthur spoke quietly, "Listen, Matthew. A bad man with too much confidence tried to create ghost speaker powers for you. But your body wasn't meant for it. A ghost speaker's natural build allows it to absorb and manipulate the powers it has been granted, however a normal human can never even dream of doing such a thing. Only the key can grant powers for a human, and obviously that man didn't respect that." He paused briefly to allow the information to set before continuing on. "Ancient skills have been forced in, and your body is currently fighting against them, but soon they will take over and you will lose your memories and die. Do you understand?"_

_Alfred looked horrified, but Matthew only whimpered and nodded._

_"Nothing, not even my own powers, can fully get rid of it. It's like an incurable disease. However, I can delay it. If your brother is willing, I can split this curse between your two bodies. Both of you will wind up losing your memories, but at a much slower rate. This should give you enough time to search for the key and ask it to take this back." This was obviously a very risky move. For one thing, the chances of finding the key at all were one in a million, and then finding it right when it turned thirteen? One in hundreds of millions for sure. But the percentage wasn't zero._

_"Alfred, will you agree?" Arthur prompted._

_The American barely even seemed to think about it. "Yes."_

_"Alright then. Brace yourself."_

_What he hadn't told them was that a feat such as this would almost certainly drain away the rest of his powers. After this one last show, Arthur would no longer be able to call himself a ghost speaker. But that was alright... it was for Matthew and Alfred, after all._

_

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_

**Just out of curiosity, does anyone know what day it is in the story?**

**And yes! I have killed off not one, but three minor characters! Or did I? Probably, but you never know!**

**Next chapter will focus on mainly Arthur, Peter, and the North American Brothers, as you can probably guess by the random last section of this chapter. Oh, but the Nordics will probably appear, too.**

**Also, what do you guys think of having the Italy brothers and Spain appear? As one of my awesomely loyal readers suggested. And I've already killed off three characters, so why not introduce three more...**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and have an awesome rest of your life!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for taking so long... my parents saw my report card and banned me from the computer for a month. So I ish-wrote out this chapter on paper until I could get back to typing, because that's what I do. I really am sorry! I'll get better grades next time!**

**Anyways, it's Wednesday in the story, if I counted correctly... 6:45 pm in Ari's town... so there's still a little more than a day till Ari's birthday. ****Okay, I think I have time. **

**This chapter introduces Seychelles (whose name is Angelique in this story, thanks a ton to Fortune Maiden for helping me with that!) Please enjoy!**

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"Is she here yet?"

"You mean, has she arrived at our front porch in the five minutes since I called her? Why don't you check for yourself?"

Peter scowled, but returned to munching on his second chocolate bar as he did his homework. Stupid geometry... it wasn't like he was ever gonna use the dumb shapes when he grew up, anyways. Pretending to be deep in thought on one particular question, he allowed his mind to drift to the job Arthur wanted him to perform. Tracking the North American Brothers was not foreign to him... he'd practically been doing it since his powers had matured.

But he didn't enjoy it. Their auras were as familiar to him as Arthur and Angelique's, yet he didn't even know what they looked like or sounded like or anything. Wasn't there something wrong with that? Not to mention that it was all thanks to them that Jerk Arthur no longer had his powers... What was so great about the North American Brothers, anyway? What was so important about them that made Arthur constantly want to check up on them? It wasn't as though they were relatives, and besides, shouldn't you be hating the people who stole your ghost speaker identity?

It was stupid. Probably the only good thing that came out of tracking them was that Jerk Arthur always invited Angelique over. His older jerk brother always said it was to help Peter, since Angelique had similar searching powers, but obviously a ghost speaker as great as Peter Kirkland didn't _need _any help. Still, whenever he tried telling Arthur that, the self-proclaimed gentleman would just say something annoying like "you're not a fully-fledged ghost speaker yet, and Angelique is, so just accept her help and say thank you for it, ungrateful brat".

Angelique was only six years older than him... how did that make her fully-fledged?

"Are you working?" Arthur spoke up, glancing across the kitchen table from the mystery novel he'd been reading.

"Yes," Peter grumbled, looking back down at the problems before him.

But Arthur didn't return to the boring-looking book, instead nodding at the mug near the fifth-grader's hand. "Drink your tea. It's getting cold."

"I don't like tea. Can't I go get a soda?"

"Soda's bad for you. Just drink the tea."

Peter made a face, and crossly wrote some numbers on his homework, also adding a sloppy scribble of a triangle next to it. None of the other kids in his grade were forced to drink tea. If he couldn't drink soda, he wouldn't drink anything at all. Screw tea!

Take that, Jerk Arthur.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Gilbert stretched out his hands as far as he could, straining with the effort. His fingers brushed against the windowsill, and then suddenly jerked back. Cursing under his breath, he glared down at his brother. "For Gott's sake, West, stand still! I was almost there!"

"I'm balancing on a stack of tires," Ludwig growled back, bending his legs as he tried to keep from falling over, "and holding your disgustingly dirty shoes on my shoulders. This isn't easy!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Gilbert returned his attention to the open window, leaning forward and outstretching his arms again. It was so freaking close! Couldn't Ludwig just stop moving for two seconds? "Almost there..."

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Ludwig grumbled as he tried to straighten his legs once more. His grip on his brother's feet tightened, and the albino hissed warningly.

"This is the key's house. There might be something worthwhile inside of it, and the window was open. Too bad it's so freaking high, though... Gott, this is so unawesome!"

"And what if his family returns?" Ludwig prompted.

"They won't," Gilbert responded, lunging again for the window. Ludwig stiffled the yelp that rose in his throat and struggled to keep his balance. Gilbert scowled as he missed yet again, and then continued, "they're talking to Vash and the prissy musician. And they're not gonna leave without some sufficent answers."

Ludwig wondered, not for the first time, how his brother could know such things, but as usual chose not to ask. Gilbert probably wouldn't answer him, anyway. Instead, he tried to think of a level plan while teetering dangerously on the tires as his brother lunged again and again.

"This isn't working!" the albino's voice had rose into a whine, and he grabbed his head in fury and annoyance. "West!"

"On the count of three, I'll jump," Ludwig explained lowly, trying to keep a clear head as his brother succumbed to insanity. "In that moment, when we're at the highest point possible, you grab on to the window, understand?"

A look of surprise flashed briefly on Gilbert's face, before transforming into a wide grin. "Ah, a sacrifice on your part, huh West? Sounds pretty awesome. You're getting there."

"One... two..."

"Aren't you going to acknowledge the wonderful compliment the Awesome Me just bestow- oh, shit!"

Ludwig landed firmly on two feet, ignoring the tires that fell around him, and then glanced up. Gilbert was dangling, but had a good grip on the windowsill, and soon managed to swing his leg up and climb into the room. A black gloved hand waved outside the window, indicating that he would open the front door soon.

Well, that had worked. Ludwig shook his head and made his way to the front yard... thank Gott none of the neighbors had spotted them. "Vash, Roderich... you guys had better distract them long enough..."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Mr. Kirkland? Ari's _homeroom teacher_?" Erik repeated in disbelief.

Roderich nodded, a subtle look of (irritating) amusement on his face. "The very same. Quite a small world, isn't it?"

"You mean Ari's teacher used to be a ghost speaker?" Matthias looked confused. "How does that work? It's once a ghost speaker always a ghost speaker, isn't it? You can't just get rid of your powers and stop."

Vash gave him a scornful glance. "You're a naïve one, aren't you? It's possible to use your powers to such an extent that you would lose them. After that, you would simple be a normal human being."

Matthias blinked in surprise, completely oblivious to the Swiss' degrading tone. "Really? But why would anyone want to that?"

"Exactly," Roderich nodded. "That's why it almost never happens."

"But what sort of situation could Mr. Kirkland have been in to have to use his powers so greatly?" Lilli wondered out loud. She glanced up at her brother, who shook his head.

"Nobody knows," he sighed.

Tino looked thoughtful, his violet eyes holding a faraway look. "He must have had to be very desperate..."

"In a super dangerous fight!" Matthias offered excitedly. "He could've been against some sort of incredibly strong opponent, and in a last ditch effort used all of his strength to kill the bad guy and live!"

"A huge fight l'ke th't would've bin noticed," Berwald pointed out.

Erik watched his cousins in faint irritation. The semi-relaxed atmosphere had once again somewhat calmed him- and this time he resolved not to lose his temper again- but that shouldn't have given any of them the excuse to start making up theories that didn't have to do with anything. He nodded curtly at Vash and Roderich, also grabbing the attention of the other Nordics.

"Thank you for your information," he spoke in a low voice, his face expressionless. "We appreciate it greatly. Now, if you'll excuse us..." he turned away, gesturing to the others to do the same.

"Not quite yet," Roderich responded.

Immediately the cousins were on guard, suspicious and almost dangerous looks on every single one of their faces. Matthias had, perhaps unconsciously, thrust out his arm again and the black gloves Berwald wore were in the process of being taken off. A greenish mist seemed to be swirling around Erik as he arched an eyebrow questioningly.

"What's with this sudden defensiveness?" Roderich smiled humorlessly. "We're not threatening you. I only called you back to offer something."

At that, even Vash and Lilli looked surprised, and the Swiss suddenly nudged his sister back into the house. He glared sharply at his cousin, who either didn't notice or ignored it. The fog had disappeared from Erik's body, and Berwald had lowered his hands, but Matthias still held his battle position, ready for any surprise that might come.

"You see, we want to find Ari as well," Roderich went on, "and seeing as you owe us for the information we gave you..."

"We're not giving you Ari." the deadly tone was strange coming from Tino.

Roderich looked almost insulted. "Of course we wouldn't ask you for such a thing. Not anymore, at least. I am proposing something much more civilized." He glanced at Vash, who was still glaring at him, and then back at his visitors. "Let's see how this goes, shall we?"

Erik narrowed his eyes as the Austrian cleared his throat. He had a strong suspicion this was not going to be something he and his cousins would be entirely pleased with.

"Under the orders of Gilbert Beilschmidt, I, Roderich Edelstein, would like to offer an alliance between our two families."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Chimes echoed throughout the house, and Peter immediately raced to the door. "She's here, she's here!"

Arthur followed with faint annoyance, watching his younger brother fiddle with all the locks. "Don't be so energetic. A gentleman remains calm in all situations. I've told you that before, pest, so you'd better remember it this time."

He was pointedly ignored, as Peter flung the door open, revealing a lightly tanned girl with long dark hair tied in two pigtails. She beamed when she saw the two, stepping in and immediately giving Peter a hug. "Peter! Wow, you've grown, haven't you? It's only been a few months, though."

"Hi, Angelique," Peter replied brightly, clearly pleased by her statement. He grinned, and led her deeper into the house, his bouncing self from a few moments ago having been completely replaced with the gentlemanly attitude Arthur had spent years drilling into him. "You want a soda? Jerk Arthur doesn't like it, but I personally find it... enlightening."

"That's not the right way to use the word, brat," Arthur grumbled as he closed the door. Angelique smiled at him as she sat down at the kitchen table, and he rolled his eyes with a subtle nod at the fifth grader. "Don't just use your brain for micronations that don't matter."

"Sealand does too matter!" Peter insisted as he grabbed two cans of soda from the fridge. "Why do you always have to take Britain's side?"

"Because unlike you, I'm proud of where I come from," Arthur retorted, taking his old seat directly across from Angelique.

Peter didn't respond, and sat next to the visitor, cheerfully giving her one of the cans before popping open his own and taking a long drink. "Whatever. So Jerk Arthur, how long do we have before you make us find your favorite brothers?"

Something flashed in the teacher's eyes, but he replied coolly, "You can start whenever Angelique feels ready. I'm sure she'll want a few minutes to rest after the drive here."

"I'm right here, Arthur," Angelique waved a hand, "you don't need to talk like I'm out of the room. Besides, I feel fine. We can start right now if you want." She offered another smile, although this one seemed slightly more forced.

The shadows of a scowl appeared on Arthur's face, but he only nodded briskly. "Alright then. You know where the living room is, you two may go ahead and get started. I'll just be ordering dinner." He paused, waiting for the two to stand up from their seats before continuing, "Angelique, would you care to stay? It's Peter's favorite... pizza..."

Peter instantly brightened, tugging on the teen's arm hopefully. "Yeah! Will you stay? Please?"

She gave the fifth grader a genuine smile, and then another polite one to the Englishman. "Thank you for the offer, Arthur. I would love to stay. Could you order mine with extra cheese, please? Thank you." And then she turned away, following Peter to the living room where they would begin to track down the Brothers.

Arthur grimaced, taking his cellphone out of his pocket and muttering to no one in particular, "If that is what you wish, the gentleman has no right to oppose."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

_"Erik?"_

_The twelve-year-old turned around in surprise, staring in astonishment at the sight of his brother. "Ari... what're you doing here? Did you follow me?" He folded his arms against his chest sternly. "Shouldn't you be at home?"_

_Ari lowered his head. "Well... the thing is, Mom said you left school at 3:00, which is half an hour earlier than you always said it was. So I just wanted to know what you did every day that made you come home late." He looked up apologetically. "I'm sorry. I probably should've asked you, instead of following..."_

_Erik's gaze softened at the third grader, approaching him and placing a gentle hand on his head. "You're right, you should have asked me. And you will next time, right?" He lowered himself until he was eye level with his brother, offering him a kind smile. "That way I can take you along instead of you having to sneak around behind me. I think it's more fun that way."_

_Ari blinked, obviously surprised that his brother wasn't mad at him, and then nodded brightly. "Mm-hm!"_

_"Alright then. Let's go home now." Erik stood up, nudging the eight-year-old before walking away. "I'll buy you some licorice on the way back. Sound good?"_

_"Yup! Thank you, Erik!"_

_"Sure... the graveyard isn't that interesting, anyway."_

* * *

**Okay, I lied. No North American Brothers. I'm really sorry! The first draft of this chapter had them in it for a little bit, but then I cut it out 'cause I thought it wasn't good... Also, I'm just getting a bit hesitant to write them. I don't really know why...**

**Aside from that, I realized it's getting kinda hard to somehow connect all the characters to the actual plot (I mean, Lars and Bella haven't shown up for... ever) and the chapters are getting harder and harder to write! But that's mainly 'cause of stupid homework. I'll give a fair warning... it's gonna take a while to complete this story, but it'll definitely happen!**

**Moving on. I'd like to thank Fortune Maiden again for helping me pick a name for Seychelles. Also, thanks to everyone else who reviewed and story alerted and favorited because you're all super super awesome!**

**Next chapter will definitely have Lars, Bella, the North American Brothers, and Ivan and his group.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**... no, I wasn't slacking. I mean, _pssh_, you guys, why would you even think that?**

**I would say that between English essays and science reports and Latin tests plus exams coming up I haven't had much time to write, but that just seems like an excuse. I am honestly sorry for taking so long to update, and I truthfully feel really bad about it. I mean, I have a lot of fun writing this story so why am I not doing it?**

**I dunno... but for now just please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Hey, Lars?"

"What?"

"Don't you think this seems a little weird?"

Her brother eyed her warily; the look on his face implying that he wasn't in the mood for this. "What, Bella?" he sighed as they walked through the front yard. "What seems a little weird?"

"The house," Bella answered promptly, ignoring Lars' obvious exhaustion. "It's 7:00 pm, and the entire place is dark. Wouldn't Erik and the others be having dinner by now?"

"They probably went out to eat," Lars grunted, "any excuse Matthias can use to bring him to a bar."

He made to reach for the doorknob, but Bella tugged on his sleeve insistently. He shot her an irritated look, but she once again ignored it and went on, "But they knew that we would be back by this time to talk to Ari. So if they did go out to eat then they should be back by now, right?"

"Then they're running late," Lars snapped. "I don't know why you're hoping so much for something dramatic or bad to have happened, but incase you haven't picked this up with your incredible observation skills I am tired and I want to go in and go to bed, so just keep your mouth shut for once and let me rest. Okay, Bella?"

As soon as the words left his mouth he realized it wasn't a good idea to say them. The wounded look on his sister's face left Lars with a prick of guilt for snapping at her, but the fact was he really was tired. So he just sighed, shook his head slightly, and opened the door…

… To reveal two very surprised Germans behind it.

A few moments of silence passed between the four. The blonde man looked guilty and somewhat embarrassed, while his albino companion simply seemed shocked. Lars ended up just standing there, still holding the door open as he stared at the intruders, but Bella only scowled.

"Told you."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Alfred lay motionless on his bed, staring blankly at the dark ceiling above him as he slowly processed the new information he had just received.

On the bed beside his, Matthew was also lying down, except the focus of his curious gaze was his brother. As soon as they had returned to the hotel Alfred had wanted to take a pill and fall asleep so as to properly enter Ari's mind, but Matthew had had to remind him that because the key was in school he probably wouldn't be sleeping and therefore his mind would be harder to enter. Still, Alfred didn't have the patience of his brother and had only been able to wait until 6:30 pm before finally swallowing the pill and collapsing on the bed. Ari must have been asleep by then, for some reason, because clearly Alfred had gained some new data.

"Al... what's up?"

"He's unconscious right now... somehow he got caught in something between Ivan's group and Yao's family. Sadiq and his friends managed to nab him before he got killed, though. But since he's not awake I have no idea where he is."

Matthew blinked in surprise, sitting up slowly as he stared at his brother, who only continued to look at the ceiling. "Caught between Ivan and Yao, huh? Seems like it's a rough day for him."

"His memories began resurfacing as dreams. He and his brother used to be pretty close, you know? They used to hang out a lot, and his brother would always buy him treats and stuff. But one day Ari learned that his brother could see ghosts, and since then their relationship has been practically ruined. Ari more or less hates his brother for being a ghost speaker, but Erik can't do anything about it." Alfred let out a quiet chuckle at this. "The ironic part of this is that Ari's actually the most powerful ghost speaker in the world."

Matthew didn't reply, instead choosing to wait and see where Alfred was going.

"Does it sound familiar to you, Mattie? The story about Ari and Erik's relationship as brothers?"

"I don't recall our relationship ever being ruined. I never hated you for being able to naturally see ghosts, Al, no matter what you think."

Alfred was silent for a few moments, and then sighed heavily, covering his eyes with his arm. "But you didn't like it," he muttered quietly, "did you? You didn't like that Arthur always paid more attention to me, that I was the favored one because I was the ghost speaker. You didn't like how you were just a normal human being next to his gifted older brother. Right, Mattie? Even if you never said it, even if you supported me the whole time, you still envied me. That's why you did it."

"Al-"

"Anything to be able to be as powerful as Al. Anything to be noticed and loved by Arthur. Anything to be considered as somebody, to be respected as somebody. That's why you listened to that man, isn't it?"

Matthew held on to his polar bear tightly, but didn't say a word in response.

"Am I right?"

His grip tightened still.

"Mattie."

"I'm sorry." Matthew lowered his head miserably, touching his forehead to the soft touch of Kumajiro's fake fur. "I know how stupid it was. How stupid I was. How do you think I feel, waking up every morning and looking at you and knowing that I practically ruined your entire life with one selfish decision I made? But Al, if what I did is so resentful to you that you can't forgive me, I promise you that if you want to give me the full brunt of the curse I'll take it without a second-."

"Don't say that!"

The yell was so sudden, so loud, it made Matthew jump. Alfred's eyes were still covered by his right arm, but his entire body was tense and his jaw seemed locked as though he were trying not to say anything else. This failed, however, as he repeated, "Don't say that. Don't you ever, for one second, think that I would wish for you to disappear."

Matthew hugged his polar bear against his body, his gaze still fixed to the bed below him.

"We need to find Sadiq, and fast. Go to sleep now, because we're going to be getting up very early tomorrow."

And with that final word, Al turned over and pulled the blanket over his head.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"IVAN!"

"T-Toris, please calm down-"

"IVAN!"

The Russian man arched an eyebrow when he saw his subordinate burst into his office, quickly followed the smaller trembling Latvian. Toris looked furious, blue eyes blazing and his body shaking in compressed rage. His hands were balled into fists, which he was clenching tighter and tighter as evidenced by his white knuckles, and he was panting heavily.

"Ivan," he growled, his tone one of pure venom.

Raivis flinched, clearly terrified by this new side to his co-worker. At Ivan's sign, he turned and fled from the scene, speeding past a bewildered-looking Eduard who took one look through the office's glass door and also turned tail.

"Well, it seems we are alone now," Ivan smiled despite the glare he was currently on the receiving end of. "What can I do for you... Toris?" His violet eyes narrowed into slits, as though challenging the Lithuanian.

Of course, this only served in making the young man even angrier, as he burst out, "You killed him! You killed Feliks!"

"That is not true," Ivan shook his head slowly, purposely drawing it out as if testing Toris' patience. "He was in the Asians' house, yes? Than it is clearly the Asians who killed him."

"_Don't fuck around with me, Ivan_. You killed my best friend, don't even try to deny it."

Ivan's smile quickly turned into a confident smirk, one so smug that Toris seemed to be having a hard time refraining from punching him. "And even if I admitted to it? Then what would you do, Toris? Would you try to avenge him and kill me? Or perhaps you just wanted me to listen to your screams and then send you off to make dinner for me. Even if I said I killed him, what could you possibly do after?"

Toris only looked more infuriated by this, his face even turning a particular shade of red, but was ultimately unable to come up with a response.

Ivan's smirk grew bigger. "That is what I thought. Now then, kindly go and tell Raivis that I would like some _zharkoye_ for dinner tonight, da? And you'd better alert my sisters that dinner is being prepared, as well."

"I hate you."

The reply was so sudden Ivan blinked.

"And I will never forgive you. You are responsible for the death of somebody very important to me, but I know that I'm no match for you. Still, you'd be wise to watch your back, Ivan. The key was with the Asians. You're lucky somebody intervened in time to save it... unlike the others in that house."

Without another word, Toris exited the room, leaving Ivan with an almost amused expression on his face.

"Even if you are a diviner, my dear Toris, it is becoming very clear to me that you can't see everything."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Defense strategies originated in Korea, after all!"

Yong Soo danced around the room happily, waving his sleeves as though celebrating a holiday. Xiang watched him, clearly unimpressed, and when he spoke it wasn't without a hint of annoyance. "You could have thrown up that force field a little quicker, you know. My clothes got singed."

"Oh no." Yong Soo stuck out his tongue mockingly, but Xiang had already turned away.

"That Polish idiot definitely died, though, right?" Mei questioned.

Xiang nodded confirmation. "There was nothing to protect him. He burned up instantly." He shrugged idly. "At least the key got out. Knowing that he's still alive means we still have a chance of securing him before Friday."

"That may be so, but we have no idea where he went," Kiku pointed out mildly.

Yong Soo waved an arm in dismissal. "No worries! We'll definitely find him, because we're Asian and Asians can do everything, da ze! Koreans more so than others, of course."

"You're too loud," Xiang hissed warningly.

Before the Korean could make a face and reply, though, a young-sounding voice rang out, "At least that means his spirits haven't dampened, aru." A youthful man entered the room, smiling affably at his comrades. "I'm glad to see you're all okay. I wasn't counting on Ivan sacrificing one of his own to try and kill us. I would have thought his family meant more to him, aru."

A frown suddenly appeared on his face. "I'm sorry for putting you in danger, Yong Soo, Xiang. It was careless of me to put anything past that Russian."

"Yao~! Don't worry about it, we ended up just fine because of my amazing Korean powers!" Yong Soo happily bounded over to the leader of the group, while Xiang merely nodded in acceptance. "And we'll for sure find Ari again before Friday. We won't let you down!"

"What the annoying Korean said," Mei agreed, smiling at her older brother.

Yao blinked gratefully, a relieved look coming over him. "I'm lucky to have such an amazing family, aru. Thank you."

Yong Soo grinned. "Anything for Yao, of course~!"

"We all owe it to you," Xiang muttered quietly.

Kiku lowered his head in a slight bow. "That is why... we'll follow you anywhere, for any reason." He glanced up, suddenly making firm eye contact with his leader.

"Even on a search for immortality."

* * *

**North American Brothers were a little dramatic there... but I really just didn't know what to make them do. Toris was pretty OOC, too. I'm sorry...**

**I'd like to thank all of my awesomely loyal readers out there who are all incredibly awesome for having the patience to put up with me. Thanks so much, you have no idea how much it means to me.**

**Requests for characters are... I guess still open. I could still squeeze in Spain and the Italy brothers if people really want me to.**

**Please review! It makes me happy inside. And it also might motivate me to write another chapter sooner.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Random note: I think it's about 7:15-7:30 pm, Wednesday in the story right now. **

**Yeah, that's about it.**

* * *

"Quiet down, idiot, you're making too much noise."

"You say that as though I want to be crawling around in these bushes and dirtying my clothes." A shudder ran through the musician as he stared regretfully at his stained shirt for the fifth time in the past two minutes. "It's going to take ages to clean it thoroughly…" he sighed.

Matthias only rolled his eyes as he crept forward a few more feet. "I'm not the one who offered an alliance between our families," he muttered pointedly. His gaze returned to the house he and Roderich were currently observing. One particular figure inside was walking back and forth by the window, his body language implying that he was feeling impatient or perhaps worried by something.

"I still don't see why we have to sneak around like rats," Roderich went on, obviously not paying any attention to the task at hand. "If Arthur Kirkland is the one we're waiting for, why don't we just go ahead and ask for him?"

"Erik told us to wait here and watch him, and that's what we're going to do whether you like it or not, okay?" Matthias snapped, his temper flaring at the man Erik had forced him to pair up with. Still, he could understand what Roderich meant. Actions did much more than watching, so why did his cousin want him to just stay in the bushes? Erik himself had gone off with Vash, after quite some persuading to get the Swiss away from his sister, to search for the North American Brothers, while Lilli, Tino and Berwald had been sent back to the house to wait for Lars and Bella.

Basically, only Erik and Vash were doing the important things. Everyone else got stuck with boring jobs. Matthias shook his head and returned to watching Arthur's house—if this was what Erik had assigned him to do he'd perform the task without fail. This was for Ari, after all. Wherever that little brat was.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Well, well, look who's finally decided to wake up."

Ari immediately registered the unfamiliar voice and scenery, but surprisingly found himself adapting to his new situation in an instant, feeling only a guarded wariness rather than shock and fear. Maybe this was the product of having been passed around by random different ghost speakers in the past day.

"Hmph, what kind of weirdoes am I with now?" he grumbled, sitting up and crossly rubbing the sleep out of one eye.

He found three grown men staring at him, one looking as exhausted as Ari's body felt, another with a completely blank expression, and the last wearing a mask so it was impossible to see how he was feeling. Ari noticed that the sleepy one was wearing a jacket that looked slightly burnt, and a memory of fire erupting before him flashed briefly in his mind.

"Let me guess," Ari said dryly before any of the men could answer his first question, "you guys are with the weird valley girl and his/her friend who were at the Asian house. While they distracted the Asians, you guys blew the place up, but somehow used your super incredible ghosty powers to get me out before I could get killed since I'm supposedly some important item in your world. Now you're going to hold me captive here out on this open hill until I turn thirteen and grant your wishes for world domination, a new jacket, and a face, yes?"

"Your powers of inference amaze me," the masked one responded sarcastically. "And for the record, if I was going to wish for something from you it would be a new mask, not a new face."

"So you're not going to make a wish when my awesome powers awaken?" Ari arched an eyebrow tauntingly.

"What are you talking about, of course I am! That's the whole point of keeping you here," the masked one snapped. "I just wouldn't waste my one wish on a mask when I've got a perfectly good one right here." He pointed firmly at the white guard on his face as he said this, as though providing emphasis for his words.

"Furthermore," the sleepy-looking one cut in before Ari could give the scathing reply he'd already prepared, "you're kind of… wrong about a few things. We're not really allied with… Ivan's group, for one. For another, we didn't blow up the house. See, it was already decided we would take you from the Asians… we're just lucky we went through with the plan when we did… any later and you would have died."

Ari frowned at the man's words, more so because of the annoying pauses he took while he spoke than at the content. "So I suppose you're going to expect me to thank you now?"

The man shrugged, the movement so small Ari almost didn't notice it. "Not really... we did take you against your will, so... there's nothing you really have to thank us for."

His masked friend seemed slightly peeved at his words, but the golden-eyed expressionless one nodded in agreement. The masked one let out an annoyed noise, scratched the top of his head, and then declared, "Anyways, since you're gonna be hanging with us for a while, you might as well learn our names." He pointed to himself as he said his name. "Sadiq Adnan, but Mister Adnan is fine."

The sleepy man rolled his eyes out of sight from Sadiq, and Ari found himself relaxing almost unconsciously. At least this guy seemed nice. "I'm Heracles Karpusi," he drawled, green eyes blinking tiredly, "but you can call me Heracles."

Ari nodded, and turned to the last member of the group, who so far had yet to say anything.

"Gupta Hassan."

Ari waited, but clearly this was the only thing he was going to get from him.

"Gupta's a man of few words," Sadiq explained, giving the Egyptian a friendly nudge/shove, "doesn't talk much, but hell of a loyal guy. Works hard, too, so we're good with keeping him around."

"Is that so?" Ari replied. "I guess I'll have to introduce myself now, then. I'm A-."

"Ari, we know," Sadiq interrupted. He seemed to smirk at the surprised expression on the kid's face. "Gupta found it out for us. Had a few visits to your body, you know. That's what he does, and why he's great at spy missions. Spirit leaves his own body to go into somebody else's."

The surprise turned into utter horror. "You went into my _body_?"

Gupta shrugged, although he looked slightly embarrassed by Ari's reaction. "Sadiq told me to..." he said quietly.

"It was helpful to saving your life," Heracles pointed out mildly.

Ari scowled. "That's still creepy. What, did you go through all my memories and stuff? Find out about my personal life? Maybe you managed to see my loser brother and our cousins, who for all I know are probably just sitting around talking about ghosts without even noticing I'm not there."

"Erik, right?" Sadiq said. "Naw, Gupta didn't go through your memories for that, we just heard you talking in your sleep. Weird, though, from what you were saying you seem to be pretty close to the guy."

"Talking in my...?" Then he remembered the dream. Or, more accurately, the memory. Damn it, he was hoping he'd have forgotten about all those years when he was unaware of Erik's powers. And now even worse he'd talked about them in front of these people. "That was nothing. Erik's just some perfect kid and I'm his dumb brother, that's all."

"Than we don't have to worry about any... rescue attempts?" Heracles asked.

Ari shook his head. "Far from it."

"You know, kid," Sadiq said with a grin, "I'd almost say you don't mind that we took you and are holding you captive. You sure don't seem to care that much- you don't even want your own brother to get you outta here!"

Ari shrugged disinterestedly. "It doesn't really matter. You guys aren't as psycho as the Asian people, and if it's just some wish you want than go ahead and try. I'm still skeptical about being your world's key and stuff, but if you really think I'll have these awesome powers by Friday then whatever. I'll grant your wishes and you can let me go home and we'll forget all about it."

"That's exactly the plan," Sadiq nodded. "Glad we have such an agreeable kid here! We'll just have to wait for a couple more days and then we'll set you off, deal?"

"Sure."

Whatever. This wasn't as big as he'd thought. And besides, maybe once he got some cool powers he'd finally be able to show Erik up at something. Yeah... maybe this was a good thing after all.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"They're in this _town_? Here?" Arthur repeated in disbelief.

Angelique nodded, explaining what she and Peter had seen while the boy devoured his pizza as though he hadn't eaten for days. "It seems as though they're actually staying at a hotel not too far away from here. They're sleeping right now, although I don't know why they would be in bed so early." She shrugged, reaching for a second slice of pizza. "Maybe they had a long day or something."

Arthur, meanwhile, had begun stood up and began pacing furiously. "If they're here at this time than that means the key must be here too. To think that I've been living in the same town as it for all these years... if only I'd known! I would've been able to tell them."

"Except that there's no way you could have known," Angelique replied. "So don't start blaming yourself for this. Besides, they still have a few days, don't they? And now that we know we can start helping them search for it."

Arthur nodded, but his pacing didn't cease. "Yes, that's a good point. Perhaps we can even start tonight. Peter!" The boy immediately looked up at the sound of his name. "You wouldn't mind missing school tomorrow and Friday, would you?"

"Missing school?" Peter repeated incredulously through a mouthful of pizza. He swallowed quickly at his brother's frown, and nodded eagerly. "I'm good with that."

"Excellent. Also, I hope you've replenished your energy, because we're not going to be sleeping again for a while. Go get your shoes on, we're going to see the Brothers." Arthur didn't notice the flash in Peter's eyes before the boy agreed and hurried away. The Englishman turned back to Angelique. "I'll need the address for the hotel they're staying at." The teenager informed him all that she knew, and he nodded. "Thank you for all your help, Angelique, I am very grateful. You may go home now, I wouldn't want to keep you away from the homework you most certainly have on a school night."

Angelique, however, hesitated. "Are you sure, Arthur? I could come with you, you know, I wouldn't mind. An extra pair of eyes wouldn't hurt to search for this elusive key."

Before Arthur could reply, Peter called from the front door, "Jerk Arthur, can I go wait in the car?"

"Yes, fine. Might as well start it while you're there." Arthur responded. Turning his attention back to the girl, he said, "Thank you for the offer, but this might be dangerous as there are many other ghost speakers who will also be looking for the key. I'm not in the mood for a scolding from your father if you get hurt."

Angelique gave him a dry look. "Dangerous, you say, but not dangerous enough to keep a fifth grader with budding powers and a man who's lost his own away? Besides, Papa is always telling me I should practice my powers when I have the chance. He says I need to be exposed to the Ghost World as much as I can."

"Then you should feel free to tell him that he can expose it to you himself," Arthur fought to refrain from grimacing as an image of Angelique's father formed in his mind. The bloody frog and him had never had a particularly friendly relationship... but this wasn't the time to think about that. "Furthermore, Peter and I will be with Alfred and Matthew, and their powers are far more on the offensive side than yours. I strongly advise you to return home, Angelique, and I will be in touch with you as soon as this is over."

She hesitated once again, and seemed about to say something more, but before she could a shrill scream sounded from outside.

"ARTHUR!"

Both of their eyes widened in shock, and the Brit immediately took off to find his brother, closely followed by Angelique. "Peter! What's wrong?"

The ten-year-old seemed not to have heard Arthur, because he was still screaming when the two ran outside to the driveway. Arthur looked around wildly, trying to pinpoint where exactly the screams were coming from. He ran around the car, squinting in the evening dusk, when he heard Angelique gasp and quickly went to join her.

Only to find his brother in the grasp of a particularly large blonde man holding an axe in his hand with a smirk on his face. Standing a little bit behind the axeman was a shorter dark-haired man wearing glasses and looking somewhat annoyed by his companion.

"I'm looking for Arthur Kirkland," the blonde growled, shaking Peter roughly as he did so.

Arthur resisted a sigh. This was going to be troublesome.

* * *

**Out of popular demand, the Italy brothers and Spain will not be appearing this story. I'm good with that. And somehow France got mentioned in this chapter... but no worries, he won't actually show up.**

**Um... in other news, I've been wondering if anyone's getting confused with how this is going so far. I put in a lot of implications that I'm not too sure a lot of people get, especially considering since I'm the one writing it and my mind jumps around a lot. If anyone's not understanding something, feel free to say so and I'll try my best to clear it up.**

**So anyways, thanks for reading and have a nice day~**


	14. Chapter 14

**Totally just realized a mistake I made in the last chapter- I said that Peter was twelve, but in this story he's supposed to be ten so... yeah. Just clearing it up for anyone who might have seen it.**

**Other than that, please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Arthur was not quite sure how it had gotten to this. "This" being the crazy axeman whom five minutes prior had been threatening Peter's life was now engaging in cheerful conversation with the fifth grader while the two drank soda, and his glasses-wearing companion who was calmly sipping tea as he chatted politely with Angelique and Arthur himself.

It was fair to say that the Englishman was very much confused.

Wasn't the axeman an enemy? Why else would he have captured Peter outside and demanded to see Arthur. But as soon as the retired ghost speaker had revealed himself the axeman had transformed from a maniac to the friendliest guy on Earth, turning his grip on Peter into a one-armed hug. And then the man with glasses had offered an explanation so long as they were allowed inside and given a snack, and this had turned into that and now they just seemed like old friends getting together again after a long time.

And Arthur still didn't know what they wanted with him.

Right now Roderich, as he'd learned was the name of the glasses-wearing man, was telling them a story of his musical career, and while Angelique seemed interested Arthur found he was quickly losing his patience. Even Peter had completely forgotten that Matthias had just been holding him hostage and was eagerly telling the Dane of his micronation club at school.

"Of course I do play a wide arrange of instruments," Roderich said in response to Angelique's unheard question, "however the first one I was ever to learn, and my own personal favorite, is the piano. I had my first lesson when I was three and I must say I simply fell in love with it. Two years later and I'd taken up the violin, which was-"

Arthur's right eye twitched slightly. Hadn't they been going off to see the North American Brothers? What was Angelique doing entertaining their "guest" like this? "As interesting as your musical life is," the Brit interrupted hastily, "you two did request seeing me. Now that I am here why don't you explain why? And do hurry, my brother and I are in somewhat of a rush here."

"A rush, you say?" Roderich arched an eyebrow, looking slightly peeved at having been cut off. "And where would a schoolteacher and his fifth grader brother be going off to in such a rush on a Wednesday evening?"

Arthur scowled and opened his mouth to ever so kindly inform the musician that it was none of his business, but Peter beat him to it.

"We were going to see the North American Brothers!" his brother said excitedly. "Arthur's been worrying about them for ages and now that we've finally tracked them we have to go help them find the key or whatever."

Arthur resisted the urge to strangle Peter right then and there.

The change in their guests, however, was obvious. Both of them were suddenly sitting a little straighter, solemn expressions coming over their faces. Arthur found himself instinctively tensing, and could tell Angelique next to him was also on guard.

"So you know where the North American Brothers are?" Roderich asked coolly. "What a coincidence, considering how we happen to be searching for them as well."

"Is that so?" Arthur was careful to keep his tone calm. "And just what business would you have with them?"

Matthias offered a cocky grin. "Well, it's kind of the same as yours. We're looking for the key, too. Only the thing is, it's more like we're taking the key back from them."

Arthur fought to not show the surprise he felt at the man's words. Alfred and Matthew already had the key? Then it seemed as though the situation was a bit more complicated: Matthias and Roderich had captured the key first, when the North American Brothers suddenly intervened and took it from them, and now these two wanted to find the Brothers and take the key back. So Arthur was dealing with his former apprentices' enemies.

"I hope you're not expecting me to simply give you their location," Arthur said.

"Except I am." Matthias stood up, towering over the others at the table. A steely look had suddenly come over him, and he looked threatening, almost murderous as he growled, "The North American Brothers have taken my cousin and I am not about to allow some powerless old man keep me from hunting them down and tearing them apart. Now, why don't you be a good little retired ghost speaker and tell me where they are."

Cousin? So this man's _cousin_ was the key? Arthur frowned; in a manner of seconds the situation had once again changed. Matthias and Roderich wanted to find the Brothers not just so they could obtain the key's power, but to punish them for taking family. Perhaps he could try to explain that the Brothers needed the key in order to live, and that surely after their wish had been granted they would give it back.

At the same time, however, it might be more effective for both parties if they all went to the hotel where the Brothers were. That way the Brothers could explain for themselves, Matthias could see his cousin to make sure he was all right, and Arthur could finally meet up with Alfred and Matthew. It was a winning situation for all of them that way, wasn't it?

Content with this decision, Arthur replied smoothly, "I see. I understand your situation now, Matthias, thank you for that. Of course I would be more than happy to tell you where the North American Brothers are." The Dane looked relieved and once again happy as he sunk back down in his seat. "Under one condition- you will allow Peter and I to accompany you to meet them."

"It's a deal," Matthias confirmed without even a glance at Roderich. With a satisfied grin, the Dane quickly excused himself to make a few calls. Roderich, meanwhile, had resumed to drinking his tea.

Arthur smiled triumphantly. Everyone would get what they wanted, and apparently since the Brothers had the key they would be able to have their wish granted. Finally their curse would be coming to an end.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"This," Gilbert began awkwardly, "is not what it looks like."

In a manner to prove it he quickly raised his arms into the air and gestured for Ludwig to do the same. His brother sighed but reluctantly joined him in the making of the universal sign for surrender. Generally Gilbert would be too proud to surrender to anyone, but he'd heard of the duo standing in front of him—well, mainly Lars since it was the Dutchman who was the stronger of the two. It wouldn't be good to get on his bad side.

"I am not, in fact, robbing your house," the albino continued, taking advantage of the pair's silence. "There is actually a perfectly reasonable explanation for this."

Even as he spoke his mind was whirring to create a valid excuse in order for him and West to escape. Maybe the duo didn't know he and his brother were ghost speakers—maybe they could get away with just a 'we threw something through an open window by accident and climbed in to get it" or so.

Gilbert's eyes narrowed slightly, and one of his raised hands began moving ever so slowly towards his temple. He just needed to figure it out… then he could make up a good reason.

Unfortunately, Lars' eyes flicked to the man's hand, and then into his red eyes. "Don't move," the Dutchman said calmly, "unless you want to get burned to a crisp." Gilbert immediately froze, and Lars allowed a small smirk before continuing, "You're members of the new ghost speaker family who just moved in, aren't you?"

Well, looks like he was known.

"You must have come here for the key. Although I would have expected you to be smarter considering how the house was dark… That alone should have told you no one was home." Lars paused, looking as though a thought had just occurred to him. "But no one could be stupid enough to barge in and expect to fight the Nordic family with only one partner. That means you two are either very strong, very stupid, or simply broke in to find some information."

"I actually like to think we're all three," Gilbert replied proudly, oblivious to West's groan. "Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt at your service. I'm the leader of the family. And you two are Lars and Isabel Morgens, aren't you? Pretty strong pair, I've heard. It'd be trouble if we got into a fight with you two."

Lars narrowed his eyes suspiciously but only answered with a confident, "Damn straight. Now why don't you give me a few good reasons on why I shouldn't set you on fire and let you burn to death right here and now?"

"Because the house would burn down right with me if I did," Gilbert grinned. "Not to mention how incredibly mean that would be. In fact, the mere suggestion of it is too rude to let the awesome me allow it to slide… So how about I give you a quick punishment and then we'll be on our way?"

Lars tensed immediately, but Gilbert knew even that was too slow. Ludwig should have already been lunging as he spoke, ready to use his awesome-but-not-quite-as-awesome-as-the-awesome-Gil's powers to knock out both Lars and Bella so they could run.

Two seconds later Gilbert was still waiting.

He frowned and shot a quick glare at his brother, mouth already open to give a demanding snap, when he noticed Ludwig's distracted gaze in the distance behind the opposing ghost speakers. Following his stare, Gilbert quickly noticed what had caught the blonde's attention and mentally groaned.

"Okay, hold up," Gilbert announced. He ignored the slight humiliation crawling up his neck—making that whole badass speech just to take it back five seconds later? Not awesome at all!—and explained, "We shouldn't fight when there are kids around."

Lars and Bella wore identical expressions of confusion, which were quickly turned to surprise and realization when a soft voice rang out.

"Gilbert, Ludwig. We just received a call from Matthias," Lilli panted as she hurried up to the house, quickly followed by Berwald and Tino.

A look of utter shock crossed Lars' face at her words. "Matthias?" he repeated in bewilderment.

"They've found Ari."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Why does he hate you so much?"

Erik ignored the question, instead choosing to focus on the busy road before him, blue eyes searching for a taxi to hail. Where he and Vash had gone to search for the North American Brothers was too far away a walk from where their hotel actually was, so they'd agreed to just find a taxi so as to get there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, so far every taxi that had passed by was full, and it had already been five minutes…

"Your brother, I mean," Vash clarified as though that were the reason Erik hadn't answered in the first place. "I've heard the two of you don't have the best of relationships, even despite what you do to try to protect him. His level of hatred towards you is a little frightening, especially considering he's only twelve. What happened between the two of you to get him like that?"

Erik's face remained carefully blank and his tone deliberately monotonous as he replied, "That question is a little personal, don't you think?"

"If we're to be allies we should at least know a bit about each other."

A dry laugh sounded from Erik's throat. "You seem to already know plenty about me, Vash. If anything it should be you doing the explanations." He waved an arm as a bright yellow cab appeared, but it drove by without even a glance towards him. "For example, how is it that you seem to get all your information? You certainly have no lack of knowledge when it comes to the Ghost World."

Vash shrugged unashamedly. "That is true. Gilbert, however annoying, is certainly good at picking up news. And he keeps us, his family, well informed. We know almost everything that goes on between ghost speakers and the Ghost World."

"If that were true you would have known where the North American Brothers were."

"Did you not hear me say 'almost'?"

Erik's lips thinned but all he did was wave his arm again. This time, to his relief, the taxi pulled over, waiting as the two boys climbed in. Erik gave the driver the address of the hotel, and also a bribe to get him to drive fast. To Erik's pleasure, the ride was both short and very silent.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"You mean to say you lost the key?" Ivan shook his head despite the fact the Asian man couldn't see him over the phone. "That will not do, not at all. I never took you to be so careless, Yao-Yao."

There was a sound that seemed like Yao grinding his teeth before he replied, _"I wasn't expecting you to implant a bomb on your own subordinate, aru. If anything you should be grateful that another team rescued the key before it got destroyed."_

"But that wouldn't have even happened had you just given the key to me before anything else. Instead you tried to deceit me. Don't think I'll let this off lightly. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I need you and your team to perform a task for me I would have you killed right now."

_"Another task, aru?" _Yao sounded wary.

Ivan smiled into the phone. "But of course. You lost the key, therefore it is your responsibility to find it. I will have a few of my own subordinates join you, as well, to make sure you don't try to double cross me again. If you fail to find the key before Friday than... well, I suppose I'd have to kill your family off one by one, won't I? And trust me... it won't be as painless as Feliks' death."

He chuckled in amusement at the silence on the other end. "Good luck, Yao-Yao. I do hope you succeed."

And with that he hung up.

* * *

**Let's make a deal: if I don't post another chapter before this Tuesday I will... do anything the first three reviewers for this chapter tell me to do! And I mean anything... so long as it's within the realm of possibility. **

**Again, if anyone is confused on anything in this story feel free to ask. I'd love to clear up anything that's confusing people.**

**Thanks for reading and don't forget the deal!**


	15. Chapter 15

**And yes I have done it! Posted a chapter before Tuesday! I am happy.**

**So without further ado please enjoy the quickly-written chapter~**

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The banging sounded like gunshots to Matthew's ears.

"Alfred! Matthew!"

He groaned, sliding his head under his covers and cuddling next to Kumawhatever.

"I know you two are in there, don't make me knock this door down!"

Just when he had gotten to sleep, too… With a yawn, Matthew sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand and scrabbling around the nightstand for his glasses with the other. He turned on the lamp next to his bed as he got off, casting a quick glance at Al to see if he was still asleep. Yup… still sleeping… blissfully unaware of the knocking at their door.

Matthew tiredly shuffled over, wondering what the hell someone would want at… oh. It was only 8:00. Eh.

"You two had better get the bloody hell up right _now_!"

He opened the door. "No need for all the yelling, eh? We're trying to sleep here." Matthew blinked drearily, trying to register just who was at the door. Oh, there were tons of people. Lots of blonde hair… Really wide green eyes… Really wide blue eyes… There was some brown hair, too… Wait. Holy shit.

"Arthur?" Matthew suddenly found himself wide-awake at the sight of his old caretaker. Accompanying the Englishman was a tall blonde who seemed to keep on trying to look past Matthew into the room, a glasses-wearing man who didn't look like he actually cared too much about anything, and a young boy who was looking at him in a mixture of contempt and wonder.

"Matthew…" Arthur's eyes were still wide and seemed to be swimming with emotion. "It's… well, it's good to see you again." He cleared his throat awkwardly. Matt just kept on staring at him. "And your brother?"

Oh. Right. Al. "Um… Al's still… sleeping. Wow, Arthur… I can't believe it's really you." Matt smiled, unable to do anything else, when he suddenly shook his head. "Sorry, I'm being rude. Why don't you all come inside?"

Without waiting for an answer he quickly turned around and headed back in, racing to his brother's bed and shaking him furiously. "Al! Al, wake up, it's Arthur! Arthur's here!" he whispered excitedly. "Come on, you great oaf, wake up."

"Nng… five more minutes…"

"This coming from the guy who said we should wake up early. Come on! Arthur's here!"

"Arthur…?"

Said gentleman rolled his eyes upon the sight of his sleeping friend. "Good to see you're energetic as always, Alfred. Honestly, what did you two do today to have you in bed at this time?"

"Arthur! It is you!" The lump on the bed immediately became a cannonball that barreled into the unsuspecting Brit. Arthur let out a grunt as he hit the ground, frowning at the grinning American on top of him. "It's Arthur! Matt, it's Arthur!" Alfred exclaimed, already perfectly awake.

"That's what I just told you, Al," Matt pointed out, but his tone was mild, obviously too happy to care.

"Alright, Alfred, it's a pleasure to see you as well," Arthur grumbled, half-heartedly trying to shove the man off. "Now get off. Seriously. Get off!"

Alfred laughed cheerfully, hopping off his former caretaker and pulling him to his feet with more strength than was probably necessary. He then pulled the Englishman into a tight hug. "This is awesome. This is so, so _awesome_." He then backed away, allowing Matthew to have his turn with their old friend before asking, "But why are you here? And how did you even find us?"

Arthur smiled, and then nudged the boy next to him. The ten-year-old started at the touch, having been distracted in his own little world, and then looked nervously at the Brothers, his head ducked low. "This is my little brother, Peter. He has tracking powers, which I've been using to keep an eye on the two of you. It was when I learned that the two of you were in town that I decided to drop by."

"Your little brother?" Matthew echoed.

"So we're not your favorites anymore?" his brother teased at the same time. Without waiting for Arthur's reply, Alfred approached the boy and squatted down, grinning affably. "Hey there. I'm Alfred, the greatest heroic ghost speaker in existence. And this is my bro Mattie. It's awesome to meet you, Peter!"

Peter mumbled something under his breath that Alfred couldn't quite catch, but finally just muttered, "Nice to meet you."

Before anyone could say anything else, though, the tall blonde- who had been glancing around the room the entire time- burst out, "Where's Ari?"

The name had a different effect on the people who heard it, but it was obvious nonetheless. The grins on the Brothers' faces disappeared almost instantaneously, and their gazes dropped to the floor.

Arthur, meanwhile, hadn't noticed their reactions and instead repeated in bewilderment, "_Ari_?"

Matthias nodded, a defiant look in his eye. "Yeah, Ari. You know, my cousin? The one I came here looking for? The key?"

"Ari's the key?" Arthur literally felt his jaw drop.

"He's not here," Matthew said quietly in response to Matthias. "We don't have him."

The Dane's brow furrowed, a confused look coming over his face. "You... you don't? But... Erik said..." he stumbled over his words, evidently lost in where his cousin was. "Then... Where is he?"

A dark shadow crossed Alfred's face, startling Arthur and causing Matthew to look at him worriedly. Roderich sighed, stepping forward and catching the attention of everyone else in the room. "I suppose by now some explanations are in order... yes?" He fixed his glasses professionally. "Why don't we start with the North American Brothers, then? I for one would love to hear their side of the story first."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Got any twos?"

"Go fish."

There was an audible grumble as Sadiq swiped yet another card from the deck.

"Any sevens?"

The Turk muttered a swear before tossing a card to his opponent.

"Got any fours?"

"Go fish."

"Goddammit, Gupta!" Sadiq threw his cards to the ground childishly, arms crossed against his chest like a kid throwing a fit. "You're cheating, I swear to God you're _cheating_!"

Heracles let out a yawn from the sidelines, commenting in a calm voice, "Just because you suck at Go Fish doesn't mean he's cheating, Sadiq. It just means... that you suck."

"You, my dear little annoying brat, can shut up unless you want to be walking around blind for the rest of the day," Sadiq snapped. "Gupta, shuffle the cards, we're playing another game."

The Egyptian didn't object, instead obediently gathering the scattered cards and fixing them back into a neat deck before skillfully shuffling them with such speed Ari couldn't help but be impressed. Tino could shuffle cards like that, and just as quickly, too... his family had loved playing poker, although under Erik's request they bet candy rather than money. Ari himself would have preferred being able to spend his winnings for something cool, but candy was good, especially licorice. Berwald and Matthias always got unreasonably competitive in the game, while Tino tried to play peacemaker and Erik just snapped at his Danish cousin to shut up.

Ari gave a start and furiously shook his head. No, forget his stupid family, his stupid brother... they didn't matter anymore. If anything he was actually beginning to enjoy the company of these three new ghost speakers more... they at least didn't piss him off as much. Sadiq cut it close sometimes but whatever.

"Something wrong, Ari?" Heracles turned a sleepy green gaze to him, blinking in curiosity and some concern.

Ari resisted a sigh, and then shook his head, muttering, "No, I'm fine," and then turning his attention back to the card game. Somewhere in the back of his head he realized that he was being unreasonable if he hated Erik for being a ghost speaker but was fine with hanging out with three of them... still, this was different. It wasn't just for being able to see ghosts, it was also for how incredibly freaking perfect Erik always had to be. The ghost abilities were just an added reason... that was it.

That was all.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"That Ivan!"

Kiku watched with faint boredom as his leader paced the room angrily, ranting about how ridiculous their "employer" was being. Apparently the Russian had found out about Yao's plans to keep the key for himself in order to gain immortality, but for some reason Ivan had not punished him, instead giving him another task. It was only if they failed this task would their fate decidedly end... and quite painfully, too.

How generous of the man, Kiku thought to himself, to give Yao another chance.

"How in the world does he expect us to find the key when we don't even know who took it, aru? He's just toying with us! He's mocking us by giving us a day to scramble desperately. He drives me crazy, aru!"

Kiku decided to speak up before the floor got worn about by Yao's crazy pacing. "Perhaps, Yao-_san_, rather than complaining we should be searching?" he said carefully, making sure to keep both his voice and his gaze low. "Even if your assumption of Ivan-_san_ is correct that does not cancel out the fact that we still have an extra day to find the key. We should be spending our time wisely, don't you think?"

"That's right!" At Yao's uncertain expression Mei immediately took the chance to agree. Kiku couldn't help but note that the girl always agreed with him, but shrugged it off in favor of listening to what she had to say. "So what if Ivan's being a total douche? We can still find Ari. Xiang and I did it once and we can do it again."

At this she shot a meaningful glance at Xiang who only tilted his head to one side, shrugged, and said, "Probably."

Mei visibly deflated at this but simply went on, "We were born for this- our powers were literally made for this kind of situation. Besides... we were going to search for him anyways, weren't we? That's what we promised you earlier, and we'll definitely succeed!"

"Ah, that's right!" Yong Soo suddenly straightened up. "I forgot about that. But yeah, if there's anything that doesn't originate from Korea it's broken promises, da ze! We'll find Ari again 'cause that's what we told you."

Kiku nodded, relieved to have the support of the rest of his family. "And there you have it. You shouldn't worry, Yao-_san_... we won't let you down."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"The Asians are on the move," Toris reported dully.

Ivan nodded cheerfully. "As expected they didn't wait for the subordinates I promised them. What an impatient lot." He smiled, and then glanced at his own team lined up before his desk. "Now then... as for who I'll be sending out..." his finger waved back and forth mockingly as he pondered over who to choose to assist the Asians.

"Toris, Raivis, and Natalia... would you three be so kind as to offer your services to my dear Yao-Yao?"

Of the three only Raivis looked nervous- Natalia seemed excited to be of help to her brother, and Toris looked slightly disgruntled- but all of them nodded in agreement and turned to leave.

"Remember, you are to report every move Yao makes back to me, and if there is any sign of him going against me again do not hesitate to attack. In fact, you even have my permission to kill him if need be." Ivan smiled innocently. "But let's hope it doesn't come to that, da?"

"Y-y-yes, sir," Raivis was the only one to respond, while Toris only nodded curtly. Natalia had already left the room in her excitement.

Ivan hummed softly. "Excellent. Good luck to you all, then. And, even though the likelihood of such is nearly impossible, do make sure no harm comes to my little sister, da? Otherwise I would have to punish you, and I'm sure neither of us would like that very much."

Before Raivis could give another stuttering reply Toris grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. Ivan turned his attention back to his remaining family; Eduard looked almost frightened, although whether it was for his friends or himself was hard to tell, and Maria only had a slightly disapproving look on her face.

"Vanya, you've scared them," she said rather ostensibly.

"Fear is good," he replied smoothly, "it helps the brain. Now then... Eduard, how about some dessert? I am in the mood for something sweet at the moment."

* * *

**It's a little shorter than usual but... I covered everything I needed to this chapter, and I can't really focus on any of the other groups until the next chapter.**

**We are finally -_finally- _getting to point where there're gonna hopefully be tons of epicness and battles and death! Mwa-ha-ha!**

**So until then, thanks for reading and have an awesome Fourth of July!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I have most of what I wanted to say at the bottom of this chapter so... yeah. **

**Please enjoy chapter 16!**

* * *

"Well, looks like it's getting pretty late." Sadiq glanced up at the darkened sky as though for emphasis, and then back at Ari. "I say you should-."

"Don't say you want me to go to sleep now," Ari interrupted somewhat harshly, "especially considering I just woke up a couple hours ago."

Sadiq made a face and opened his mouth to no doubt argue, when Heracles yawned and said, "Sleeping is good, Ari. I mean… you never know what might happen tomorrow… especially since you're the key. There might be some… unexpected attacks, so… you'll need a lot of rest, right?"

Ari, after a few moments, grudgingly agreed to reason but quickly added, "Unlike Heracles I can't just fall asleep at a moment's notice, so you guys had better do something to make me sleepy."

"Counting cats," Heracles replied almost immediately.

"What do you want, a bedtime story?" Sadiq demanded at the same time, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ari's gaze hardened into a glare at the Turk, which was gladly returned by the older man, before suddenly transforming into something more mischievous as he responded evenly, "Sounds good. Why don't you tell me one, Sadiq?"

"You must be kidding me."

"Sadiq tells really bad bedtime stories," Gupta surprisingly added while Heracles nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Hey, you guys never complained before," Sadiq snapped.

The corners of Ari's lips twitched upward. "Is that a yes, then?" he asked tauntingly, taking delight at the disgusted look on Sadiq's face. "Great, I can't wait." With that he flopped down on the grass, wriggling into a comfortable enough position. "So what're you gonna tell, Grandpa Sadiq?"

Heracles grinned and seemed to be resisting a laugh while Gupta only gave a small smile of amusement. Sadiq, meanwhile, was anything but.

"Shut up, you ungrateful brat," he growled. "Just for that I'll be telling you the most boring story I can think of."

"But still a story nonetheless," Heracles mused, "you must be softening up, old man."

"You're actually doing what a kid asks even after he insulted you. Years finally getting to you, I assume?" Gupta continued in his own teasing tone.

Ari sat up in surprise. "Gupta actually said more than one sentence! And he teased you no less—this must be a new record for your group, Grandpa Sadiq."

"I'm surrounded by idiots with nothing better to do but make fun of me," Sadiq grumbled. He glared at the three other boys, all having some form of a smile on their face, and snapped, "Fine, here's your punishment. You'll all have to listen to me give a history lesson about ghost speakers!"

The grins all disappeared, but for quite different reasons. A strange mixture of curiosity, wariness, and slight disgust replaced Ari's taunting look, while Heracles and Gupta's simply became annoyance.

"History?" Ari echoed. "You mean people like you _have_ a history?"

"Hey, don't forget you'll be one of us by Friday," Sadiq pointed out, "I wouldn't be talking in that kind of tone if I were you." Without waiting for a reply, he continued, "Now you guys had better get comfy 'cause I'm starting now whether ya like it or not."

Ari frowned but lay down again, and Heracles and Gupta sat next to him.

"A ghost speaker's job is to do exactly as the title says—talk to ghosts. However, a ghost speaker can only talk to his or her own ancestors and not anyone else's. Generally these spirits are only there to give advice and guidance to their descendent, therefore a ghost speaker would usually visit the burial site of any one of their ancestors in order to receive the such."

Here, Heracles made a wistful sound, causing Sadiq to stop his explanation and glance at him. "I haven't been home for a long time," the Greek sighed quietly, "I miss it… especially talking to my mother…"

Gupta nodded in agreement, but Sadiq only snorted and replied, "Don't forget, brat, it was your mother who told you to come with me to find the key. Don't be getting all whiny and regretful on me now, you hear?"

Heracles looked as though he wanted to retort something in return, but Ari quickly intervened, snapping for Sadiq to continue. The Turk scowled, muttered something about Ari being the one who'd wanted a story in the first place, and then went on,

"Now there's also the matter of the powers a ghost speaker receives. All ghost speakers—with the exception of the key, of course—are born with their own unique power, and even if some are similar to others they're all different in a way. It's said that a ghost speaker's ancestors granted these powers to them in order to protect their bloodline—no one wants to see their family name get wiped out from existence. Therefore ghost speakers can use their powers to fight with others from an opposing family. Of course, because it's the ancestors granting the powers they can also choose who they want in their family to be a ghost speaker. That's why sometimes these abilities skip generations… A ghost speaker is only made out of a person whose ancestors think is worthy."

Ari blinked thoughtfully… This would explain why his parents had no idea of ghost speakers, and why Erik was one while his cousins weren't. But Ari was just a nobody compared to his older brother… Why was he chosen to be the key to the entire Ghost World? Next to him, Heracles yawned, although this seemed to be done out of boredom rather than the usual tiredness.

"However, this doesn't mean that all powers are offensive. Some could be used for defense purposes, or just not for battle at all. Take the cat-loving brat here," Sadiq nodded at Heracles, who only arched an eyebrow in return. "He's got teleportation powers, and that could be used for anything, really. There's also Gupta's ability to take over another person's body… That's useful for spying or the such, you know?"

"In your case, Ari, we used it so that you wouldn't struggle when I came to take you away from Yao's family," Heracles added.

Ari nodded, showing that he understood what was being said so far.

"I bet you're also wondering about your own powers as the key," Sadiq continued, eyeing Ari to see if he was right. "Well, put simply, every millennia a certain ghost speaker holding the entire history of the Ghost World is born, and that ghost speaker is called the key. Because the key's body has to deal with more information than other ghost speakers it generally takes about thirteen years for it to sort through all the info and let it sink in. By your birthday your powers will finally awaken, both your own and the ones that a key is automatically given. Granted, when they do come you'll probably be in a lot of pain mentally since the history of an ancient world is gonna be forced into your brain, but once all that's done you'll literally be the most powerful human being on the Earth."

"What do you mean _pain_?" Ari demanded in alarm.

"Well, a lot of new information is gonna be flooding your mind or something, and that's bound to hurt, right? But don't worry, it should subside in no more than five minutes, and after that you'll know everything there is to know about the Ghost World. You'll have more knowledge about it than the most skilled scholar, or some shitty analogy like that. And after you're done with the pain you can grant us our wishes and be on your way."

Ari scowled. "Oh, well isn't that great. Now I get to look forward to indescribable pain on my birthday—loving my life right now."

"Don't be like that, Ari," Heracles nudged him good-naturedly. "Just remember… after it's all over you'll have… a bunch of cool powers."

Ari paused, and then glanced at Sadiq. "You did say something about powers a key is automatically given… Wanna explain'em to me, Gramps?"

"If you stop calling me that, sure. The most famous powers the key is rumored to have are the ability to give and take away other powers of ghost speakers... It's kinda like… taking away or giving what makes a ghost speaker a ghost speaker. The key can turn a normal human into one, or demote a ghost speaker into a regular human."

Gupta shook his head. "It's a little scary… imagining having your powers stripped away. It's like taking away a ghost speaker's identity."

Hm… maybe he could do that to Erik… that would ensure that there was at least one thing Ari was better at than him.

"The key could also boost the strength of another ghost speaker's powers by at least tenfold," at this Sadiq's tone seemed to be lighter, as though he were imagining himself with stronger powers.

Ari snorted. Like he would grant the old man something like that. Maybe Heracles, though… and Gupta.

"Plus a ton of other things that would take way too long for me to explain," Sadiq finished abruptly. "There, now wasn't that a great story? Now go to sleep, brat, you don't have anymore excuses."

Ari made a face. "I'm still not sleepy. You really are a crappy storyteller."

"Ignoring."

Heracles shrugged and dropped onto his back, hands placed casually beneath his head as he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Gupta soon followed, also falling asleep at an unusually fast rate. Ari, deciding he'd rather be sleeping than stay awake with Sadiq, grudgingly lay down again and closed his eyes.

At least now he kind of understood the whole ghost thing. It seemed a little cool… probably just because of the group he was with. Ari was almost positive that if Erik had been the one to explain it he would have hated it, simply because it was Erik talking.

But whatever. After Friday he'd be strong enough to even take away Erik's ghost speaker identity. Then they could see who was better.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Lars scowled darkly. "I still don't get why _they_ have to come with us," he grumbled for the fifth time since the group had begun heading towards the hotel where the North American Brothers were staying at. "Aren't they our enemies or something?"

"We already explained it to you, Lars," Tino replied patiently, "Gilbert's family and ours have made a temporary alliance to get back Ari. They're not our enemies anymore."

"Then why did they break into your house?" Lars fumed. "Furthermore, why did Erik even agree to it? It's obvious they just want Ari for their own purposes."

As Tino and Lars spoke the well-repeated conversation, with Bella piping up occasionally, Ludwig and Gilbert exchanged a glance. For the most part they'd been quiet (or, in Gilbert's case, not yelling everything he said) but even Ludwig was getting tired of being talked about as though he weren't there.

"Th're 'n o'r s'de. Th't s'all." Berwald finally spoke up, his tone indicating that this was the final word.

But Gilbert wasn't about to let it go.

"I can't deny that if we get the key we'll definitely be using it for our own awesome wishes," he declared, shooting a pointed glare at Lars who gladly returned it. "But better it's done with a group you guys can trust, right? And don't worry- breaking promises and going back on words is something unawesome people do. The leader of Beilschmidt guarantees that you can believe us when we say we'll give Ari right back."

Tino nodded, quickly speaking before Lars could reply. "Thank you, Gilbert. We really appreciate your family's help- I'm sure we wouldn't be able to do it without you all."

"Naturally," Gilbert shrugged pridefully while Ludwig just managed a semi-embarrassed nod of acknowledgement.

Lars looked as though he wanted to argue more when Bella tugged on his sleeve. "Enough, just give it up already, Lars," she said. "Isn't having more people on our side a good thing?"

Her older brother only grunted but reluctantly kept his mouth shut for the time being. Tino gave a silent sigh of relief and exchanged a glance with Berwald. While to others the Swede was holding up an impassive face, Tino knew him well enough to sight the concern and reassurance in his eyes.

_We will get Ari back. We have to._

Tino could only hope that his younger cousin was alright.

"Oh~? Well look what we have here."

Gilbert's sudden remark stopped everyone else in their tracks in favor of looking at him. The albino's red eyes, despite being as hard and glaring as they always were, seemed to also hold a slightly faraway look, as though he were in a daze.

"Bruder," Ludwig, having witnessed this many times and therefore already knew what was happening, glanced around the area warily. "What do you see?"

"A group of conflicted Asians just up ahead," his brother replied in amusement. "Their thoughts are scattered and they seem a little scared... a perfectly awesome time to ambush them, don't you think?"

Berwald frowned at the suggestion. "Why?"

"He's right, we shouldn't waste time that could be spent finding Ari," Tino agreed.

Gilbert shook his head as though clearing the dazedness away. "Oh yeah, about that. Forgot to mention the one name that was right in the center of their minds." He grinned with a mixture of sick delight and anticipation.

"Seems like they know a thing or two about Ari as well."

* * *

**I'm running a bit low on time right now so I'm not gonna put up a list of powers like I was originally planning to. Next chapter, then.**

**Truth is I actually had most of this chapter written out for a while, but I couldn't give myself the motivation to actually finish it until one day (after not checking my email for a while) I looked at my inbox and there were three awesome new reviews! Yay~~! So then I was like "what the hell, I'll finish this chapter and write the next one tomorrow".**

**So what's the lesson in all of this? Reviews make people happy :3**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter... the next one will have tons of fights! Asians vs. this group here, and then Raivis and Natalia will join in, and then Erik's gonna be there, and a bunch of cool stuff!**

**Have an awesome day~**


	17. Chapter 17

**I did it! I updated quickly! Yay~~!**

**I actually planned this chapter out, which is why I got it done so fast. Huh. Maybe this means I should plan things out more.**

**Anyways, please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Erik grabbed the fabric of his cousin's collar, jerking him down so that Matthias could see very clearly the cold fire burning in his eyes. "What did you say?" he asked coolly.

Matthias winced; Erik's voice was low and calm but somehow that just made it all the worse. He tried gently to pry off Erik's hand, but the Norwegian held a tight grip, additionally releasing a wisp of green smoke as a sign of impatience. Matthias froze and then sighed in defeat, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, you see…"

"It's just as the Dane said," Arthur spoke up, eyeing Erik warily. He'd certainly heard of the famous child prodigy, and recalled often scolding Ari for getting significantly lower grades than his well-known brother, but had never truly seen him in real life. "Ari is not here. You were mistaken—the North American Brothers never had him in the first place."

Erik's blue eyes narrowed dangerously as he argued, "That can't be right."

"But considering all the evidence before us it must be true," Vash carried on smoothly. "Think logically about this. Ari is nowhere to be seen and the North American Brothers seem to get depressed every time we bring him, almost as though they'd tried to capture him but failed, isn't it?" He didn't wait for an answer, nor did Erik give one, instead pacing the grounds in front of the hotel. Vash watched him for a few moments and then continued, "Come to think of it, where did you even get the idea that they had taken him? As I recall, Roderich and I only mentioned Arthur Kirkland as having an idea as to where your brother is."

"You said he was their mentor, and earlier Lars and Bella told me they'd attacked him. Obviously I'd assume that they'd be working together in this," Erik snapped back, his low voice carrying an obvious urgent tone.

"Well your assumption was clearly wrong," Alfred said with some hostility.

Roderich fixed his glasses with a sigh. "And with this we've lost our only lead. Not only do the North American Brothers _not_ have Ari, they don't even know where he is. Arthur doesn't seem to know anything, either."

Matthias, having finally been released by Erik, leaned back and let out a loud sigh. "Well this sucks. Now what're we supposed to do?" he checked the time on his cell phone. "And Berwald and Tino aren't even here yet. I wonder what's taking them."

"I believe we currently have a more pressing issue on our hands," Matthew said. He stepped forward, ignoring his brother's wary glance. "We all clearly have a common goal: Ari. And it would be much easier to find him if we were to work together in this. Therefore I would like to offer you all an alliance with the North American Brothers."

Erik glared at him for a few moments, which he surprisingly held quite well, and then scowled and rolled his eyes. "Why not. Sure. Since we've already been forced to make one with Vash's family as it is."

"Sarcasm isn't like you," Vash arched an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay?"

"You tell me," Erik returned. "Your sister hasn't returned yet, despite the fact that it's been twenty minutes since Matthias called us all."

A brief gleam of anger flashed in the Swiss' eyes, and his hands clenched into fists for a second before relaxing. "Gilbert and Ludwig are with her, and I trust them to keep her safe," he replied calmly.

"Is that so? And how would you know that?" Erik asked. His tone was mocking but he knew that if Gilbert and Ludwig were with Lilli, chances were Berwald and Tino had joined them as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the displeased expressions on Alfred, Matthew, and Matthias' faces, and also Arthur kneeling down to speak to the ten-year-old.

Vash offered a half smirk. "Now I wonder if it's worth telling you. Gilbert might get a little upset at me for revealing his so-called awesome power."

"Vash, this is hardly the time for an argument," Roderich tried to cut in. "You as well, Erik. Stop provoking each other and let us return to the more important matter."

"If we can't find Ari we can't find him," Vash said airily. "What do you suggest we do, scour the entire town?"

"That would be inefficient," Arthur interrupted, standing back up. All eyes turned to him as his tone suggested he had a plan. "Peter is willing to help find Ari," the Brit explained. "However he would need something of Ari's to allow him to properly track. Erik, if you would, do you have any of Ari's belongings with you at the moment?"

Erik stared at the ten-year-old, who seemed to constantly switch his gaze between Erik and the ground, and then slowly shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't. We'd have to go back to my house."

Arthur nodded briskly and immediately headed to the street to call for a taxi. "I suppose that's settled then," he said as he walked. "As we have no other leads for now, all of us will be heading to Erik's place. Matthias, if you would phone your allies and inform them of the change of plan?"

Matthias blinked at the sudden order and looked at Erik, who simply nodded his confirmation before joining Arthur.

Hopefully Peter's tracking powers were as strong as Arthur claimed them to be, or else Erik really had no idea how he was going to find Ari.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Have you caught scent of him yet?" Kiku asked.

Xiang and Mei, who both had their faces towards the wind, audibly sniffed the air one more time before shaking their heads simultaneously. They turned back to their companions, both of whom tried to give them encouraging looks.

"Nothing yet," Xiang reported, his wary eyes giving away his tiredness. "But we'll keep on trying."

"It's for Yao, after all," Mei murmured quietly.

Kiku looked at them worriedly. "Perhaps you two should take a rest. You've been standing there for nearly twenty minutes now." Beside him, Yong Soo nodded eagerly and patted the hill's dirt in front of him in invitation.

"We're fine," Xiang replied shortly. He turned around once again and lifted his face to the sky... and then suddenly grabbed Mei's arm and jumped away just as a burst of flame exploded where they'd stood a second ago.

Immediately alert, Kiku and Yong Soo leapt to their feet. Kiku drew his sword, smiling slightly when the moonlight glinted dangerously off its blade, and Yong Soo rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Xiang and Mei landed beside them, glaring furiously at the man who had attacked them.

Lars grinned lazily around his pipe, blowing out a small puff of smoke as he clapped slowly. "Nice reflexes. I guess even the kids are trained fighters in your group, huh?" His eyes narrowed and a small fire sparked in front of Kiku, who took a step back warily. Lars' smile seemed to grow even bigger. "This will be fun."

Xiang suddenly let out a cry of pain as an unseen force punched him in the stomach. He stumbled back and, with a growl, reached into his pocket when Bella appeared behind him with a kick to his side. Kiku let out a curse and ran to assist him but was stopped by the German that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

"I'll be your opponent," Ludwig got into a fighting stance, rearing back an arm to punch Kiku a mile away.

Kiku, with his natural ability to adapt to any situation, ducked under the blow and slashed at Ludwig's stomach, allowing himself a small smile of triumph when his blade made contact. This triumph was short lived, however, as Ludwig showed no sign of even feeling the cut and instead kneed the Japanese man in the face, causing Kiku to fly back into a tree.

"Ha!" Gilbert let out a bark of laughter as he joined Lars, Lilli placed protectively behind him. "So much for you."

Lars arched an eyebrow at Ludwig's sudden appearance. "Teleportation?" he questioned.

"As if. What kind of awesome telekinetic would I be if I couldn't even transport things from one place to another?" Gilbert responded, his gaze fixed on Ludwig who was currently focused on fighting Yong Soo. The Korean was blocking every one of his blows with a force field, although it was clear that he was tiring quickly as each barrier seemed weaker than the last. "And with Luddy's super strength it makes surprise attacks and instant awesome win every time." he added with a smirk.

Mei, meanwhile, had gone to help Xiang, but both were clearly getting overwhelmed by Bella and her doppelgangers along with the invisible force that occasionally attacked. Mei, with her own martial arts skills, seemed to be doing well enough destroying the Bella fakes, but more and more kept on coming, and it was impossible to tell which was the real one. Xiang was having his own trouble, as every time he lit up one of his firecrackers it would get taken by the invisible person and put out.

Berwald stood a good distance away, gloves tucked neatly in his pocket and his index finger pointing out and waving as though conducting an orchestra. Creating illusions of Bella was easy enough and it made it seem as though there were many more copies of her than there actually were, a tactic clearly designed to dissuade any opponent. Narrowing his eyes, he could see that Tino was doing a good job holding his own within the midst of the fight, scurrying unseen from one place to another and landing his own occasional blow on the Asians.

The Swede, noticing the low number of Bellas on the field, quickly conjured up more illusions and took to conducting them through the fight. Glancing over he saw Ludwig and Lars easily overwhelming the other two enemies, and smiled slightly. This was an easy fight- in only a matter of minutes they would be able to claim victory and then demand just what sort of business the Asians had with Ari. Everything was going smoothly.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Mei."

The young woman turned her head slightly at the call of her name, careful not to get too distracted from the battle. Xiang had completely given up on his firecrackers and was currently fighting using his near-perfect kung fu. After easily destroying a few more of the clones, he caught her eye again. He had an idea, she could clearly see it in his expression, and when Xiang had an idea it almost always worked.

"What's up?" she asked impatiently, wishing he would get on with it.

"They have no scent."

The observation almost made her freeze right then and there, but she luckily threw up a block in time and then jabbed at the clone's neck, causing it to disappear with a poof of smoke. She sniffed it carefully. Xiang was right... there was no scent at all.

"Not to mention," he added as he chopped another clone straight in half. This one disappeared with only a slight fizz. "Only some of these are the girl's actual clones. Others are illusions that someone on the sidelines is controlling."

Mei felt stupid after hearing that one. It was pretty obvious, really, considering the fact they fought differently, disappeared differently, and even felt different. She always got too caught up in fights to actually notice anything...

Still, these two pieces of information were good. Now she and Xiang could actually use their powers and turn the fight around. Inhaling deeply, Mei found that all the opponents surrounding her were fakes, but there was also an unfamiliar scent right around Xiang's area. The smirk on her friend's face let her know that he had also noticed.

So this ghost speaker's talent was invisibility... Well, against two people who could sniff things out like bloodhounds that counted for nothing.

Xiang leapt high into the air, avoiding the swarm of clones that had been crowding around him, and landed in an empty patch in the grass. Supposedly empty, at least. With a quick strike, the man flickered into vision and crumpled to the ground, wide violet eyes still holding the shock and fear he had felt only a few seconds ago.

Despite her own situation, Mei exchanged a grin with her partner. That was one down at least.

Now for the rest...

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

**Powers (as revealed so far)**

**Ari - **key

**Erik - **?

**Matthias - **Summons a giant axe which he uses for battle

**Berwald - **Creates illusions (which are limited when he wears his gloves)

**Tino - **invisibility

**Gilbert - **telekinesis

**Ludwig - **super strength

**Vash - **?

**Roderich - **?

**Lilli - **?

**Alfred - **plays with minds

**Matthew - **plays with minds

**Lars - **pyrokinesis

**Bella - **cloning

**Yao - **?

**Kiku - **voice control (people do whatever he tells them to)

**Yong Soo - **force fields

**Xiang - **tracker (by sniffing)

**Mei - **tracker (by sniffing)

**Ivan - **?

**Maria - **?

**Natalia - **?

**Toris - **divination

**Eduard - **?

**Raivis - **?

**Sadiq - **?

**Heracles - **teleportation

**Gupta - **body control

**Peter - **tracker (by spirit energy)

**Angelique - **tracker (by spirit energy)

**Arthur (retired) - **?

* * *

**Did I miss anyone? Sorry if I did...**

**And so I leave off after the first fight scene in sixteen and a half chapters. I feel kinda lame... But we're getting somewhere. We're getting somewhere...**

**Is Tino dead? Yes. Maybe. I did say someone was gonna die... Hm...**

**Maybe I'll have another chapter up by next week, but until then have a great weekend!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I must be in a pretty good mood today :3**

**I've been having tons of fun writing these chapters lately, so please enjoy this one!**

* * *

Matthias pocketed his cellphone and looked at Erik, shaking his head in response to the unasked question. Erik didn't say anything but the concern he felt for his cousins was inevitable. That had been Matthias' fourth attempt, and still neither Tino nor Berwald had answered the phone. Still, he knew he shouldn't worry too much- both were more than capable of taking care of themselves, not to mention how incredibly protective Berwald could get over the Finn. And besides, even if they had gotten into the fight they (most likely) had Gilbert, Lars and the others on their side.

"Maybe their phones ran out of battery?" Matthias suggested weakly.

Erik just shook his head. He simply had to trust that Tino and Berwald knew how to handle whatever situation was given to them and focus on looking for Ari. The group had taken two taxis from the hotel, and by now they were nearing his house. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was almost 9:00 pm. Was that too late for ten-year-olds to stay up? Hopefully Peter's power would be working alright.

If not he supposed he could give the kid some licorice. Sugar always helped, right?

Whatever. They'd arrived.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"So?"

Peter tried not to cringe when he saw the cold blue eyes staring down at him. The taxis had already left and the group was now standing in Erik's front yard. Peter had spent the entire car ride bracing himself- he didn't know why exactly he'd offered to help find this Ari person, especially when Erik scared him so much, but now that he'd said it there was no going back.

Erik crossed his arms, obviously waiting for Peter to give him an answer. When the fifth grader remained silent, he clarified, "What sort of thing do you need exactly? Just any one of Ari's personal belongings?"

Arthur nudged Peter, and he immediately shook his head. "No... it needs to be something that..." he paused, trying to find a way to describe it. He was aware of the impatience Erik and Matthias were feeling, but it really was hard trying to say what he needed! "Something that kind of has a part of his soul in it," Peter finally said.

"His soul?" Matthias echoed. "Like... literally?"

"Not really literally... Maybe something that he was really attached to, or has a strong emotional bond with," Peter explained. "For example... when Jer- when Arthur first tried to get me to track the Brothers, he gave me this old wooden toy that he said Alfred used to play with. And since Matthew is always with Alfred, all I needed to do was track Alfred's soul judging by the portion that was kept in the toy."

Alfred seemed faintly embarrassed by the mention of the toy, and Matthew nudged his brother teasingly. Both clearly remembered the doll and, while they didn't look it, were surprised by the fact that Arthur had kept it and that Peter had managed to track them throughout the years with it.

Erik, meanwhile, was thinking deeply of what sort of emotional bond Ari might have had with something. Lately Ari had become more and more withdrawn and emotionless, so at first glance there didn't seem to be anything he could use. There had been a little stuffed puffin toy that Erik had once given him, but last year Ari had reported coldly that he'd thrown it away. Erik sighed and told the group to wait outside. Maybe he could find something in Ari's room.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

The illusions immediately flickered away, leaving only a handful of the doppelgangers and the real one. All of them had frozen, however, and were staring at the blonde man's unmoving body.

Xiang grinned rather sadistically at their expressions and then none-too-gently kicked the man over. The body limply rolled onto its back, revealing sightless eyes and a frozen look of fear. Xiang peered over, examining the corpse carefully and drinking in its scent. Yup, definitely dead. Awesome.

"You see?" he called over to the group of clones. "Even with your pathetic trick we could still kill one of you." he smirked, and then shrugged, continuing, "Well, to be honest your strategy wasn't actually a bad one. It was just a poor idea to use it against us. Obviously we could smell the differences between the real one and the fakes, along with this guy despite his invisibility." He toed the dead man again at the mention of him.

"Sniffers aren't just for tracking, you know." Mei added pridefully.

Xiang nodded. "Now then," he reached into his pocket and pulled out another firecracker from what seemed to be his infinite supply, "with the annoying guy out of the way, let's enjoy the fight..."

He lit the explosive, bringing it close to his face so that the sparks brought an eerie light to his face. "Shall we?"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Those bastards!" Lars roared as he saw Tino fall. He made to rush over to assist his sister but was stopped by Gilbert grabbing his arm. Lars turned fiercely. "Let go of me, albino freak."

Gilbert himself had an unusually serious look on his face. "We have our own problems here. Your sister has the mumbling guy to help her, not to mention all her clones. She'll be fine. You need to help out here."

"Help out? Help out with what? Your brother's been doing all the fighting." Lars pointed out harshly.

"He's tiring out," Gilbert shot back. "Haven't you noticed? And once he drops from exhaustion we need to take over while Lilli heals him. We're the fresh backup team about to be sent to finish off the wounded enemy, and even though the awesome me could definitely do it by myself it'd be a hell of a lot quicker if you were there to help me."

Lars hesitated, glancing over to the battle Bella was fighting. She and her doppelgangers had actually stopped fighting, and it seemed as though the boy with freak eyebrows was making some sort of speech. Well, Gilbert was right... Berwald, as one of the Nordic family, was undoubtedly strong. He could protect Bella.

"Fine," he grunted, heading back to the albino's side. "Although I do want to have a word with you about your strategy. Do you always work your brother until he collapses?"

Gilbert flashed a grin. "West's tough. He can handle it."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Ludwig honestly hadn't been expecting the two to be so relentless. Even after being slammed into a tree the Japanese man was fighting, and despite the Korean's obviously weakening force fields he still stubbornly threw them up. Ludwig knew that the two were tired, close to dropping dead if anything, but he could also feel his strength depleting. Especially considering most of the energy in his blows ended up being wasted on a goddamn force field.

The Japanese man jumped over a hammering blow, barely flinching when the fist literally cracked the earth beneath him, and thrusted his sword forward. Ludwig, with his own surprising agility, side stepped and reached out to snatch the man right from the air. His hand collided somewhat painfully with a barrier, and he turned to the Korean with a snarl, which was gladly returned.

The Japanese had landed next to his companion and both of them lunged at Ludwig. The Korean's kick was easily deflected, but the tip of the sword's blade sunk into Ludwig's forearm and sliced down, leaving behind a long bloody scar. Ludwig growled, trying to ignore the stinging pain and dizziness he was beginning to feel. Even if Gilbert's plans and strategies always made sense, he still didn't like how he was always the one sent out to fight till he dropped.

_It's for the good of the team, West!_

Ludwig grimaced as he recalled his brother's words of supposed encouragement. Whatever. Just focus on beating these guys.

He blocked another blow from the Korean and lashed out with a leg to kick the Japanese man away, only to recoil when his foot landed shockingly on a solid barrier. Seriously, he was getting pissed with how this guy kept on protecting his teammate, even if it was pretty noble of him. The Japanese man took advantage of his brief stunned state and swung his sword at Ludwig's neck.

Except Ludwig disappeared.

And suddenly Yong Soo's sleeve was on fire.

Gilbert grinned at his brother, who was currently lying in front of Lilli breathing heavily. "Nice job, West. Now just sit back and watch your awesome big bro wrap this all up. Take good care of him, Lil."

"Of course," she responded honestly.

Lars, meanwhile, was scowling darkly at the two Asians. Particularly the Korean, who was rolling around on the ground wailing. "You're lucky I didn't set your whole body on fire," he growled. "Especially considering what your two friends did to Tino."

He took a step towards them, feeling a sense of satisfaction when he saw the defensive stance the Japanese man took. "But whatever. By the end of this battle you'll both be dead anyway, so it doesn't really matter what sort of mercy I'm showing to you right now."

"How scary," Gilbert laughed. "So let's begin. Backup team, attack!"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Erik stared in shock at the thick pile of papers before him on Ari's desk. His eyes scanned over the first page, easily deciphering his brother's sloppy handwriting that only occurred when he was upset, and then he snatched it up, taking to reading the second page, and the page after that, and the page after that.

It was a lot of pages. And they all mostly said the same things over and over and over again.

_Erik's so perfect..._

_... so smart, so amazing..._

_... I hate him..._

_... so stupid..._

_... why am I the failure?..._

_... laughed at me again in school..._

_... got a stupid B..._

_... I'm not my brother..._

_... hate him..._

_I hate him_

_I hate him_

_I hate him!_

Erik found his breath shaking when he was finished. He hadn't even known about all this... All these dark feelings within his brother. He'd known Ari had stopped being open to him for a while now, and he'd been aware that Ari had changed, but to have this much hatred... And such an inferiority complex too.

It was true, Ari was compared to him a lot, but Erik had never thought too much of it. He'd never even thought too much of his supposed prodigy title... the idea that Ari might be feeling so inferior to him because of that had not once crossed his mind. He hadn't even known he was the cause of his brother's sudden change! Well, okay, he'd suspected it... no, he knew but still... he hadn't thought it was to this extent.

"I'm really a terrible brother, aren't I?" he muttered bitterly to himself. "Hurting Ari and never even realizing it. How pathetic."

Some prodigy he was.

Regardless, he was trying to be a good brother now and save Ari. He wanted Ari back. He needed Ari back, now more so than ever. He needed to apologize and make everything right once and for all. He needed to show how much he loved him, and how fucking stupid those bullies at school were, and he _needed to save Ari._

These papers had more of an emotional bond with Ari than probably anything else in the room, even if it was a negative emotion. They would have to do.

_I promise, Ari. I promise I'll make everything right again. And once this is all over we can go get some licorice, just like we used to._

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Toris stopped abruptly in his tracks, green eyes wide as they reflected much more than the trees before him. At this, Raivis and Natalia also paused, looking at him with expressions of concern and mild curiosity respectively.

"T-Toris?" Raivis took a step towards his friend, peering into his eyes in an attempt to observe just how much the Lithuanian was seeing at the moment. "I-is there… Is there anything wrong? Will something bad happen?"

It took a few moments for the older man to respond, and when he did it was with the cold dismissive voice he seemed to have taken on since Feliks died. "The Asians will be experiencing some trouble soon," he reported as he began walking again. "They have the upper hand now but it will turn against them."

Natalia was the first to follow. Her icy blue gaze was fixed on the back of Toris' head, a look of obvious curiosity now on her face. She found this man quite perplexing, honestly. Hadn't he been swooning over her since the day they'd met? And now he simply ignored her just as he did with the rest of their group. The very nerve.

"I suppose that means we'll have to help them," she said instead. "That is, after all, what Brother Dearest instructed us to do."

"Obviously," Toris snapped back.

Raivis let out a yelp, and Natalia rolled her eyes. She didn't like the way Toris had suddenly manned up—all because Feliks died, really. Had that nuisance really meant so much to him?—but still, if it meant that he would become more focused and efficient in his missions it was probably a good thing. So she chose to ignore him and the group continued on their way.

After a few minutes of silence, Raivis spoke up again. "Are we c-close by?"

"No." the diviner replied. "At most it will take another ten minutes."

"By then our help will probably be much more appreciated, anyways," Natalia said. "We should only step in when it's clear they're about to lose—otherwise those Asians' precious pride might be wounded. And we can't have something as insignificant as that interfering with Brother's plans."

Toris responded dully, "You seem very talkative today, Natalia. Is something on your mind perhaps?"

Raivis yelped fearfully yet again, and this time Natalia snapped at him to shut up. However, just as she'd turned back to reply to Toris' out-of-line remark, she found herself staring right into his furious gaze.

"Don't treat Raivis like that," he said sternly, the anger in his eyes not matching the blankness of his face. "He doesn't deserve it."

And with that he turned and resumed his pace. Natalia scowled; she really didn't like this new Toris.

* * *

**Ehh? Tino's dead? That's terrible! Nooo! Berwald's gonna be freaking out now...**

**On the other hand, Erik's found the papers and his resolve is as strong as ever! Yaaay! Oh, and Toris is acting OOC, but not nearly as OOC as Vash so it's okay! No, it's not, actually... sorry...**

**I'll post the next chapter at some point. Can't say when exactly but definitely some day! Just wait for it!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Ha. Don't be expecting any more chapters any time soon. Three updates a day is good enough for me.**

**Enjoy the chapter and good night.**

_**Edit 9/2/11: **_**Fixed up a minor thing that was bothering me. Nothing big.**

* * *

The spark was extinguished almost immediately.

Xiang blinked. He stared at it for a few moments. The gears in his brain were clearly turning quickly, although unfortunately not quick enough, for by the time he'd come up with the conclusion he was already knocked unconscious.

Mei cried out in shock as he fell, and then she immediately snapped her gaze to the corpse, only to find herself gazing into deep violet eyes and a sympathetic smile. A brief flash of some emotion crossed the man's eyes, and then she felt the sharp blow to the back of her head and slowly sunk down.

But that was impossible. He was dead. He was absolutely dead. His body and his scent... He was supposed to be dead.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Tino smiled apologetically at Bella as her clones simultaneously disappeared. She still had a shocked expression on her face, although it was quickly fading into one of extreme curiosity and wariness.

"I'm sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It was a very realistic illusion, wasn't it? We didn't mean to scare you like that. It's just such a natural tactic that we forgot to inform you about it." He ducked his head shamefully. "I'm terribly sorry for worrying you, Bella."

"M' bad," Berwald's deep rumble sounded from behind her, and she jumped before turning around. He also had his head bowed. "F'r not w'rn'ng you. S'rry."

Bella looked embarrassed by the Nordics' apologies to her. "N-no... I should be apologizing. Obviously you wouldn't have been defeated that easily." She grinned at them, which Tino eagerly returned before a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"You're not hurt, are you?" he asked worriedly.

To his relief, Bella shook her head. "Not at all. I mainly had my copies do all the fighting so I'm perfectly fine."

"'nd you, T'no?" Berwald asked, concern lacing his gruff voice.

Tino waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine. Your illusion really saved me, though... I just barely got out of the way." he smiled brightly. "Thank you, Berwald."

"... s'no probl'm..."

It was a moment of peace between the three of them- mainly for Bella, considering how Tino's fake death nearly gave her a heart attack- when Tino suddenly gave a start. "Ah! We should go help out Lars and the others, shouldn't we?"

Berwald glanced over at their battle and how noticeably one-sided it seemed. "D'sn't l'k like they n'd it," he said.

"Of course not! My big brother's one of the strongest ghost speakers out there," Bella said proudly. Then she paused. "Ah... but... he doesn't really need to know I said that."

Tino laughed lightly. "What you said won't be heard by anyone else, we promise."

And it's because it was such a peaceful time that no one expected a knife to come whistling through the air and land directly in front of the trio. In short, no one expected the Asians to have had backup.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Peter opened his eyes, a strange sense of calm flooding over him as it usually did once he'd done a successful track. "He's not too far away from here. He seems to be sleeping, though."

"Again?" Alfred said. "He slept earlier today too. Kid must be exhausted."

"Well, I'm sure it's been a very stressful day for him," Matthew reasoned.

"Where is he?" Erik demanded, cutting off the Brothers' starting conversation. "How long would it take to walk there? Is he alone? Can you tell if he's injured at all? In any way?"

Matthias nudged him good-naturedly. "Enough, Erik, you're overwhelming him. Let's go one question at a time, yeah?" He turned to Peter expectantly.

"It would take about... fifteen minutes to get there, I guess. He's with three other men but I think they're sleeping too. Judging by how close they all were I'd say they're already pretty comfortable with one another. Maybe they took care of him? If that's the case I don't think he'd be injured, or at least not that badly..."

Roderich took a step forward. "And what did these men look like, exactly? Could you tell?"

"When I track a soul it's kind of like seeing a bunch of dots on a map. I just need to use an object to pinpoint the soul. But with that said, no, I couldn't tell what the men looked like."

Erik shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We'll be seeing them soon, anyways. Peter, I need you to lead Matthias, the North American Brothers and I there. Arthur can come too, I suppose. Meanwhile, Vash and Roderich can try to find Tino and Berwald." he glanced at them to see if they had any objection to not be accompanying them to find the key, but to his surprise they nodded in agreement.

"We made an alliance with you so we have to follow it," Roderich offered as an explanation. "Besides, it's more than likely that Gilbert, Ludwig, and Lilli are with them."

Erik simply shrugged and carried on, "If they're in any danger you two either help them out or escape with them judging by how strong the enemy is. If they're not in any danger... just ask what the hell took them so long and take them back here to wait. We should be back in forty five minutes or so, assuming everything goes smoothly."

"Roger that," Vash acknowledged, albeit somewhat mockingly.

Erik ignored this and turned to Peter. "Alright then. Lead the way. And try not to get lost."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Lars couldn't help the maniacal grin that spread upon his face as flames danced around Yong Soo. It wasn't his fault... the fire was just so nice and pretty to look at. Really. "Go ahead and put your barriers up," he taunted, the grin still wide as he spoke. "In the end you won't be able to hold them forever."

Yong Soo scowled but his force field still held strong. The fire encircling him seemed to be getting closer and closer until they were lapping at the invisible shield hungrily, and he drew back, uncomfortable with the sudden heat.

"What's wrong? Can't handle a little rise in temperature?" Lars scoffed. He let out a puff of smoke from his pipe and instantly the flames leapt up, now crackling angrily as they tried to attack the one they saw as an enemy. He smirked, folding his arms against his chest confidently. "Even with your force field you won't stand two minutes with flames like these. Nice fighting you."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Come on, you call yourself a warrior?" Gilbert cackled as he dodged yet another swipe from Kiku's blade. "I don't even need to lift a finger to fight you!" And as if to prove it the sword promptly flew out of Kiku's hands and was tossed away somewhere. Gilbert smirked and tapped his temple mockingly.

"What a dishonorable trick," Kiku panted heavily. He was clearly exhausted but more than willing to continue the fight. "Fighting a weakened opponent with psychic powers. Have you no shame?"

Gilbert was undeterred. "It's called having a strategy. And besides, you can go ahead and use your ghost speaker powers- the awesome me can handle anything you come up with!"

The Japanese man had taken an expression of surprise when Gilbert encouraged him to use his powers, and by now he looked completely bored and unimpressed. "Is that so?" his voice suddenly had a cool, calm ring to it, completely unlike the breathless gasps he'd been speaking in before. "Well then... I certainly hope you don't regret your decision of allowing me to use my powers."

Gilbert narrowed his eyes, shaking off the slight haze that seemed to have come over his mind when Kiku spoke. Voice control, was it? Good thing the awesome Gil had never listened to his peers anyways.

"Bring it. The awesome me is and always will be undefeated!"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"They're unconscious," Natalia noted as she approached the now on-guard trio. She eyed the fallen Asians with some distaste. "How pathetic. And it seems even their companions are having trouble. This group really is full of worthless ghost speakers."

She glanced over at Kiku and Yong Soo, taking careful notice of how Yong Soo seemed to be close to death and Kiku fighting somewhat evenly with the albino. "Raivis. Go help the one that's about to be burned alive. I'll take care of these three."

"A-a-are you sure? I mean, T-Toris can't help us because his power can't be used for c-combat... are you sure you can handle them?"

"Are you implying thoughts that I am weak, Raivis?"

The Latvian snapped to attention. "N-n-no, miss! Not at all! I'll get right to it, miss!" And with that he scurried off.

Bella scowled at the idea of him interrupting her brother's kill. "As if I'd let you," she said as she split into four perfect clones. Two of them leapt forward to chase Raivis, only to disappear in a cloud of smoke a moment later.

"If you disrupt him in the middle of performing an order," Natalia held up four more knives, exactly identical to the one that had been thrown on the ground and the ones that destroyed Bella's clones, "he'll lose complete and utter confidence in himself. And if that happens he'll simply screw up and I'd have to take care of all this by myself. I don't quite fancy that."

Tino narrowed his eyes. _She's fast... And that's probably not even her real power. We'll have to be careful._ And with that he vanished.

Natalia arched an eyebrow in mild fascination. "So... someone who can clone herself, another who turns invisible..." she turned to Berwald, who was standing calmly with his hands behind his back. "And what's your power? Hopefully something that can actually provide a challenge for me."

Berwald merely held her stare coolly. _As it is we're already at a disadvantage. She knows two of our powers and we don't even know hers. Perhaps I'll wait until later._

Natalia waited a few moments longer, and then shrugged. "No matter. I'm sure I'll learn it eventually. After all, quite soon you'll have no choice but to use it."

And then she tossed her knives.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"'Ah, look at how pretty those flames are. They're really such a nice sight. I wish I could stare at them forever.'."

Lars started at the unfamiliar voice and turned around to see a small, meek-looking boy with his hands placed timidly behind his back and his gaze searching everywhere but the Dutchman's face.

"'It's too bad that they'll be tainted soon, though.'," Raivis continued in that frightened voice of his. Then he blinked, and his tone changed to something very close to amusement. "'This boy... Who is he?'."

Lars' eyes widened as the kid continued to speak.

"'This boy... is reading my mind.'."

The flames suddenly disappeared and Yong Soo fell forward, gasping for clean air. Lars immediately turned back, narrowing his eyes in concentration to bring the fire back to life when the boy suddenly began speaking again.

"'This is bad, the flames are gone. This boy is distracting me. I just have to ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him. He keeps on talking. In that case all I have to do is shut him up.'." As soon as the last word left Raivis' mouth he jumped to the side, completely dodging the burst of flame that appeared briefly before fizzing out.

Lars scowled.

"'That's right. So long as he's reading my mind he'll know what I'm about to do," Raivis continued as though nothing had happened. "'That makes this troublesome. Furthermore, while I'm wasting time with him that Korean might recover. Granted he'll be too weak to do any serious damage but fighting two opponents is not something I would like. Shut up.'."

Raivis backed away to avoid another explosion.

"'This is bad. He's predicting everything I'm about to do. And he just keeps on talking. What an annoying brat.'." Raivis paused for a moment here, and then offered a meek smile. "Sorry. I guess I am annoying. But I get that a lot from the people I fight, so I'm used it. Please just continue to have conflicted thoughts and allow me to win."

"As if that would happen." Lars turned back to Yong Soo, only to find that he wasn't there anymore.

"'Above?'." Raivis said.

Lars immediately shot a pillar of fire into the sky, but Yong Soo threw up a barrier just in time and flipped off of it, landing right next to Raivis with a tired grin. "Aha, thanks for helping me out there, da ze," he patted the boy fondly on the head. "Gratitude and repaying debts originated in Korea, so just wait and watch."

Raivis gave a small smile and then turned his attention back to Lars. "'The Korean's recovered. Tch. Just my luck. Looks like I'll have to go all out now."

"Oh?" Despite his injuries Yong Soo smirked confidently. "Just try it."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Ari. Ari. Oi, Ari, wake up."

The twelve-year-old groaned and rolled over, batting the large hand away sleepily.

"Ari! This is serious. We're expecting company in a few minutes and chances are they're gonna want you," Sadiq snapped.

"Ehh?" Ari sat up, yawning tiredly and glancing around. Heracles looked exactly the way he felt but Gupta and Sadiq seemed alert. "What...?"

Sadiq stood up, also pulling Ari to his feet as he explained, "Gupta was keeping watch by taking over a nearby owl's body. He heard a group of people mentioning your name a lot coming in this direction so he returned. By now it's probably too late for us all to get away and hide, even with Heracles' teleportation powers, so we'll just have to meet them head on." He slapped the boy's back roughly. "You ready for this?"

"Ow..." Ari winced, and then shook it off. "Whatever. Okay."

Sadiq frowned. "You're not taking this seriously, are you?"

"Not really."

The Turk let out a groan but was interrupted by Gupta tapping his shoulder and pointing at a dark clump moving steadily towards them. Sadiq's frown grew deeper and he tried to nudge Ari aside, but the boy only stepped forward to catch a better glance, even more so when he actually saw who was in the group.

"Ari?" a painfully familiar voice sounded.

Ari scowled as the annoyance fully appeared in sight. "Oh. It's just you," he muttered darkly.

The three men looked at him curiously, and then back at the group before them, which was oddly led by a kid who couldn't be older than ten. Among the group were two brothers (the North American Brothers? Here?) and a very tall blonde who looked incredibly excited. Plus the guy who had spoken just now.

"To what honor do I have of the amazing prodigy Erik coming to visit me?"

* * *

**Haha, I lied. Tino's not dead. Come on, I like him way too much for that. Although... sorry for the people who might've gotten kind of excited when he supposedly died. If it makes any of you feel better someone way more important will die soon! No, seriously, they will.**

**Anyways... next chapter I'll have an updated version of the powers list. Whenever that next chapter comes out.**

**Good night~**


	20. Chapter 20

**So... Did this take too long? It's been over a month so probably... Sorry...**

**In any case, please enjoy!**

* * *

Ari was pretty sure that feeling spreading through his body and slowing down his breath and heart rate wasn't relief, because if it was relief he would punch something.

There was no way he was _relieved_ that Erik had arrived late at night with practically an army of other ghost speakers minus Matthias. He wasn't _relieved_ that this probably meant Erik had been searching for him for the whole day. He wasn't _relieved_ that Erik might actually have really cared that he'd gone missing. The fact was it didn't matter to Ari, not in any way. Why should he care that Erik wasted the entire day when Ari was perfectly fine with Heracles and the others? He didn't care. Really. _Really_.

"To what honor do I have of the amazing prodigy Erik coming to visit me?" the words came out bitingly harsh, even more so than he'd intended. He basked for a moment at Erik's wince, completely ignoring the rest of the group, and continued, "It's a little late to be out here on a school night, don't you think? You should be at home studying."

"Why would I study when my little brother is missing?" In contrast to his earlier wince, Erik's voice had regained its cool and authority-like tone. His head tilted to one side and cobalt eyes dulled so that he himself seemed as though he could care less. "I was worried about you, Ari."

Not relief. Definitely not relief. The last thing he wanted was for Erik to start acting like a big brother now of all times... Then Ari might feel a little bad for sealing his powers away.

"I can understand your resentment towards me," Erik went on, "and I admit that lately I have not been acting like a proper older brother to you. I never noticed your problems at school, or how you felt when others compared the two of us. It was a complete failure on my part, and I'm sorry."

If anything, Ari's scowl only grew darker. "It's a little late for tha-."

"However, what I don't understand is your level of hatred for me," Erik cut him off. "Even with all the comparisons and the pressure put on you, I doubt that would be enough for you to hate me to this extent. Did something else happen to trigger it?"

"Do you even know what you're talking about?" Ari snapped back, even angrier at having been interrupted. "Stop acting like you know everything, Erik! It wasn't just my school problems or those stupid comparisons. You never noticed _me_! You were too busy being the perfect child with your stupid perfection and your stupid violin. It's always 'I'm too busy studying, I can't help you' or 'I have to practice for my recital' and then you even have the nerve to scold me when I'm not studying or practicing!

And then- and _then_ you got your stupid ghost powers or whatever and you start thinking you're even better than you were before! Now I have to pick you up every day from your ridiculous graveyard and I have to listen to Idiot Matthias and the others talk about how great and _freaking awesome_ you are and how completely average I am. And you wanna know what's worse? You've been ignoring me! You never realized until recently just how much I hate you- and I really hate you!- and you're always just running off with your stupid ghosts and you're the one who gets all these cool powers and you never even take the time to buy me licorice anymore and-."

Ari suddenly stopped, clamping his mouth shut. That last part wasn't supposed to come out...

Now everyone was staring at him, looks of complete shock on their faces. Ari, with nothing better to do, stared back. So among Erik's group were the North American Brothers for some reason, a ten-year-old kid, Matthias and... oh shit, was that Mr. Kirkland? Seriously? Even his teacher was a ghost speaker?

Screw life. Really and honestly... screw life.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Tino crept around the battle carefully, observing the way this new girl fought against Bella's clones. She had incredible reflexes and seemed to be able to dodge or block every hit aimed at her while simultaneously destroying one or two doppelgangers with a few well-thrown knives. Even when five copies threw themselves at her she managed to destroy them all without a single hair out of place. Tino narrowed his eyes—there was no way something like that was possible without the use of a power, so the question was what hers was. Honestly, it was right in front of him and he couldn't even figure it out.

He glanced over at Berwald, who still had his hands behind his back but all the same had conjured up illusions. This time the Swede was careful enough to add a puff of smoke whenever one of the illusions disappeared, taking measures to make sure Natalia didn't figure out the trick as quickly as the Asians had. Still, Tino had a feeling that she was already able to tell, and that put them at an even greater disadvantage.

Bella was probably tired enough from constantly having to use her power, and even though Berwald was doing a good job of keeping up even he had to run out of stamina soon enough. Tino was lucky that his invisibility power didn't require much energy, but at the same time it wasn't actually as useful as Berwald's. The knife girl was clearly just waiting for all of them to tire out before she made her final move.

Tino shook his head- he shouldn't be getting distracted. Right now he just had to concentrate on figuring out what her power was. He could do it... hopefully.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Toris wasn't quite sure what he should be feeling judging by the vision he'd just had, but lately hatred and coldness had been working so he decided to continue on with it.

Maybe he should be feeling satisfied? But that seemed wrong considering just how many corpses he'd seen. Still, quality over quantity, right? It was the man who'd led Feliks to his death after all...

Oh yeah. That's right. Feliks was dead. Because of Ivan. Feliks died because of Ivan.

Satisfaction it is, then.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"'Die die die die die die shut up die die die'."

Lars snarled as he set fire to where the pair was standing, but they'd already disappeared.

"'You're annoying. Die. Stop talking. Die. You're wasting my time. Die'."

"I guess when you're angry your intelligence lowers, da ze!"

They leapt out of the way just as another burst of flame erupted, and hardly seemed fazed when their planned landing spot also began to burn. Yong Soo simply threw a force field over the fire so he and the mind reader could jump off it and land somewhere else.

"'How do you expect to beat me when all you're doing is running away?'." Raivis blinked, and then simply replied, "Your flames have been getting weaker. You're tired, aren't you?"

"And while you use up all your energy trying to get us, I'm recovering!" Yong Soo grinned. "But at the same time if you suddenly decide to stop using your flames and wasting energy, we can just attack you. Haha, strategies originated in Korea, da ze!"

But something seemed to have changed all of a sudden. Lars wasn't reacting to what they were saying... Yong Soo frowned- he was pretty sure what they'd said was annoying. And Lars seemed to type to be really easily annoyed.

Raivis must have noticed too, because he added, "Another one of my allies is taking care of your friends. She's the strongest so she should be finishing up soon and then coming over to assist us." Then a confused look crossed his face. "Something's wrong."

A completely new voice rang out, low and melodic without the slightest hint of urgency. "You can't hear his thoughts, can you?"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"He can't hear you, either," Roderich said. "In short, none of you can hear each other, be it words or thoughts. That is the result of my latest piece, and I must say I'm quite proud of it. It is specifically designed so that only the conductor may be heard, which really proves to be useful, wouldn't you agree?"

Lars looked at him warily, but Roderich simply continued to wave his baton.

"You can't hear the music, either. But that's a bit of a pity, considering what a lovely sound it makes. Oh, and don't worry, Lars, I'm part of Gilbert's family. I'm here as your ally. Vash should be helping your sister and friends so you don't need to be distracted thinking about them. For now let's just focus on taking out these two, shall we?"

Yong Soo scowled and opened his mouth to yell something, but Roderich just shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't hear you. As a matter of fact, considering your ally's horrified expression, neither can he. But in any case we really should be continuing this battle- Erik had found Ari and we've been instructed to take you all to meet up with him. We can't do that in the midst of a fight, now can we?"

Lars smirked and nodded. He'd rested up enough, anyways. This was going to be fun...

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"I've got it!" Tino suddenly appeared beside Berwald, who looked at him in a mixture of urgency and curiosity. "Her power," Tino continued, "it's like she has enhanced senses or something. She observes how one of the copies move and then just by that she can predict what the thing's next move will be. It must require a lot of mental power, though, so she shouldn't be able to keep it up for long."

Berwald nodded. "Got it. We j'st have t' h'ld out l'nger th'n her."

"Exactly. Do you think you've got enough energy?"

"'Course. S'Bella 'm w'rried 'bout."

"That's true," Tino looked at the Belgian worriedly. All the copies seemed to be exhausted but there was one more so than the others, and unfortunately that was the one Natalia was currently racing towards. "Bella!"

Immediately an army of Bellas flickered in front of the knife girl, but she simply ran right through them, calling out, "Don't think I haven't been able to notice which is a doppelganger and which is merely an illusion."

The glint of a metal knife appeared, and despite the fear on the real Bella's face she was apparently too tired to move. Even the copies had completely disappeared due to her lack of energy.

And that's when the gunshot sounded.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Vash sighed as Bella fell to the ground. His shot had been aimed perfectly but there was no doubt Tino and Berwald would be acting pretty annoying to him... This always happened.

Natalia stopped in her tracks, staring at the fallen girl, and then turned around, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Who were you aiming at?" she demanded coldly.

"Her, of course. It would have been ridiculous to waste that bullet on you." Vash reached into his pocket and began digging around before finally pulling out another bullet. "This one will be used on you."

Natalia growled. "What do you mean?"

"What I shot that girl with was my sister's precious bullet. This one is Gilbert and Ludwig's, meaning it should pretty much kill you instantly. Although I wonder if I should really be telling you all this."

Vash raised his gun and cocked it, staring dully at Natalia. "I have to finish this quickly or Erik's gonna explode with worry. Sorry."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Bella!" Tino let out a strangled cry as he ran to the girl's side, still unable to comprehend what Vash had just done. Wasn't the Swiss on their side? Well, he was confronting Natalia now but... Why had he shot Bella?

To the Finn's surprise, however, the Belgian was just stirring at he approached, and then she suddenly sat up looking for all the world like she'd just taken a refreshing nap.

"What... just happened?" she asked upon Tino's arrival.

"I should be the one asking that," he shook his head as he spoke. "In any case, how do you feel?"

"Actually... really good. I feel like all my energy just came back! If anything that was like... a healing bullet!" she said enthusiastically.

Tino blinked, trying to understand her words. "A healing bullet?"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"It's weird, I know, but that bullet just gonna keep on following you no matter how much you run," Vash called. "It's got Gilbert's knack for following enemies, and Ludwig's super strength to demolish anything in its way. You stand no chance against something like that. See, the way my power works is that I more or less use other peoples' powers. Lilli injected some of her healing power into the bullet I used on Bella, and Gilbert and Ludwig injected their powers into the bullet I just shot at you. Kind of useful, don't you think?"

Vash allowed himself a smirk. "Just hurry up and die so we can leave."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"Maria, Eduard, get ready. We're going out."

His older sister looked up from the book she'd been peacefully reading. "Going out? That's unusual."

"I agree," Ivan said cheerfully. "But this is for something very important. We're going to go meet the key."

Eduard suddenly sat up straight, looking at his leader in surprise. "You mean you've found him? But then shouldn't we get the others and the Asians? Surely we'll need their help?"

"Toris will tell them where to go. He's the one who informed me, after all~" With that said, Ivan left the room, clearly expecting the remainders of his group to follow him.

Eduard and Maria exchanged a glance and obliged, getting up from their seats and trailing after the Russian. Still, there was one thing that was bugging the Estonian...

Just how had Toris gotten the information to Ivan?

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

**Powers (as revealed so far)**

**Ari - **key

**Erik - **?

**Matthias - **summons a giant axe which he uses for battle

**Berwald - **creates illusions (which are limited when he wears his gloves)

**Tino - **invisibility

**Gilbert - **telekinesis

**Ludwig - **super strength

**Vash - **uses bullets infused with powers given by others

**Roderich - **writes and plays pieces that each have different effects

**Lilli - **healing

**Alfred - **plays with minds

**Matthew - **plays with minds

**Lars - **pyrokinesis

**Bella - **cloning

**Yao - **?

**Kiku - **voice control (people do whatever he tells them to)

**Yong Soo - **force fields

**Xiang - **tracker (by sniffing)

**Mei - **tracker (by sniffing)

**Ivan - **?

**Maria - **?

**Natalia - **enhanced senses

**Toris - **divination

**Eduard - **?

**Raivis - **reads minds

**Sadiq - **?

**Heracles - **teleportation

**Gupta - **body control

**Peter - **tracker (by spirit energy)

**Angelique - **tracker (by spirit energy)

**Arthur (retired) - **?

* * *

**The fights finish in the next chapter and the final showdown begins soon!**

**As I said before, if you have any questions please ask because I really don't want anyone to be confused. Like... if you didn't get Toris' scene than just say so and I'll explain it!**

**Anyways, good luck if you're starting school soon (or already started it) and I hope to see you next chapter!**


	21. Chapter 21

**School starts on Tuesday so I think it'd be great if I could at least get close to finishing this story before it. This chapter's a little shorter than the previous ones but it covers everything it had to so... yeah.**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Toris watched with considerable disinterest at the battles before him. Natalia was running around being chased by a bullet, almost looking like one of those ridiculous cartoons children watched on Saturday mornings. Raivis didn't seem to be having much luck either, as he was apparently prevented from reading the opponent's mind.

He sighed. To think that they'd been doing so well only a few minutes prior... He hadn't expected even more enemies to show up. He really should've checked to make sure, but honestly he'd thought that once Natalia and Raivis joined the fight it'd be over within minutes. Even the idea that they'd be losing hadn't occurred to him.

Well, he figured, it didn't seem like the situation could get much worse. Now was as good a time as any.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

A shrill whistle sounded through air, and Natalia immediately turned and bounded off.

Vash scowled, looking more than just annoyed. "Don't try running away," he growled as he aimed his gun once again, but she was already too far away, disappearing into the trees from which she had emerged. "Dammit!"

"I can't believe she actually managed to cut through the bullet," Tino commented once it was clear the battle was over. "Those knives are more deadly than they look…"

Vash turned his head slightly to glare at the Finn, and then looked away when he saw Berwald's gaze upon him. "All the same, you shouldn't underestimate my bullets, especially not the ones fused with Gilbert and Ludwig's power. It still grazed her hand and that alone should prevent her from using it for a while."

"Really?" Bella said, awe clear in her voice. "That's amazing."

Vash only shrugged. "Well, for whatever reason that girl ran off so I guess that means we're free to go join Erik. He's found Ari and he sent Roderich and I to find you guys since you were taking so long."

Upon hearing the Swiss' words, Tino instantly leapt to his feet. "He found Ari? Really? That… that's great! We have to go meet up with them immediately!" Then he paused and turned to the girl beside him. "Oh, that's right, Bella, are you feeling okay?" he smiled apologetically at her. "Um… Berwald could carry you if you're too tired."

Berwald nodded his consent, but Bella only shook her head and stood up. "I think I can manage," she said, "but first shouldn't we check up on Lars and the others?"

"Oh yes, that's right. We should go help them," Tino agreed.

"I don't think that's necessary," Vash said at the same time with a glance at the other group's direction. "Their opponents seem to have run off as well. The more important matter at hand right now is what we do with these two." He gestured at the unconscious Asians still lying on the ground a few feet away.

"Ah, I forgot all about them," Bella said with a small smile. "Tino, you must've hit them really hard for them to still be out of it."

Tino scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Ahaha, I guess I still don't know my own strength…"

"Should I kill them?" Vash asked bluntly, interrupting the slightly light-hearted moment. His gun was already pointed at Xiang's head and it was clear his finger was itching to pull the trigger.

"What? No!" Tino immediately objected.

"W' don't kill," Berwald added. "W' sh'ld jus leave'em there fer now."

Vash looked unimpressed by their show of mercy but didn't resist, instead simply sighing and turning. "Alright then. Refraining from killing an enemy never ends well but now isn't the time for an argument. Let's get going."

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"For the record, running away is one of top unawesome things to do!" Gilbert called to Kiku's retreating figure. As he expected, the Japanese man did not react, only followed his two companions- also known as Lars and Roderich's former opponents- into the trees where the girl had previously disappeared into.

Lars looked displeased by the fight's abrupt ending. "Tch, I was looking forward to burning them to their deaths. What made them run away like that?"

"You didn't hear it but a whistle sounded," Roderich explained as he tucked his baton into the inner pocket of his coat. "And just like dogs they ran to their master's call. Simply put, they realized they were losing and retreated."

"Hmph. Cowards."

"Well, so long as the fight ended I can't say it really matters. At least now this means we can go meet up with Erik and the rest." Roderich turned to where Lilli and Ludwig were. "Are the two of you all set?"

Lilli nodded. "Yes, I've healed Ludwig the best I could," she confirmed.

"Excellent. Now then, it seems as though Vash's group is ready to leave as well. Let's join up and head on out." Roderich said.

Gilbert frowned. "Hey, are you forgetting who the awesome leader is here? Didn't think so. As the Awesome I say we should join Vash and then go meet up with that Nordic family. Prissy musician, you can try and figure out where all those unawesome people ran off to."

"If the barbarian insists, so be it."

"Hey!"

Lars glanced at Lilli, who was smiling at her family's interaction. "You guys seem to get along," he commented.

"Oh, yes. They can be a little crude at times but in the end we're all a family." She said it in such a matter of fact manner that Lars got the impression that she thought about it a lot.

He sighed and rolled his shoulders, taking his pipe out of his mouth for the first time since the beginning of the fight. "You and Ari should really hang out sometime. I think you could teach him a lot."

Lilli paused, and then smiled brightly at him. "I'd be delighted to have Ari as a friend."

Her words were said so earnestly even Lars had to smile.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

"You never said anything about more of them showing up," Natalia snapped accusingly as the group raced to where they'd agreed to meet their boss. Everyone seemed exhausted and beat up except for Toris, and as a result their pace was rather slow.

Toris merely shrugged. "I wasn't expecting it either. I'm just as surprised as you all are about your overwhelming defeat in this battle."

"You're the last person I want to hear that from," Yong Soo said. "At least we were actually fighting. Just what were you doing the whole time? Hiding out in the trees and waiting to call the retreat signal?"

Raivis winced at the Korean's harsh tone. "T-Toris' power isn't good for offense. Even if he had joined us he wouldn't have been able to do much."

"There are more pressing matters to be concerned about anyways," Kiku said before Yong Soo could respond. "For starters... where are Xiang and Mei?"

Yong Soo made a surprised sound once his companion pointed it out, and he immediately glanced around before glaring at Natalia. "What happened to them?" he demanded. "Why didn't they join you?"

"They were knocked unconscious in battle," Natalia replied simply. "And there was no way I could carry both of them back, considering my currently disabled hand."

"Then they're dead by now!" Yong Soo said furiously.

Toris cut him off. "They're not dead. I had a vision earlier. They'll be meeting up with us later after we find Ivan." He ignored the suspicious look Yong Soo was giving him in favor of examining Raivis. "You're not too hurt, are you?" he asked the younger boy.

To his relief, Raivis shook his head. "You called the signal before it could get any worse. Compared to the others I'm probably the least injured."

Upon observing the injuries the rest of them sustained, Toris found that the Latvian was correct. Yong Soo and Kiku looked considerably beaten up, although they were doing a good job of keeping up with the group, and Natalia's hand was practically spilling out blood.

Ignoring the slight prick of guilt he felt, Toris instead said, "You guys are in pretty bad condition. We'll need to get to Eduard quickly before Natalia's blood trail leads them to us."

Natalia spat some word at him he knew he'd rather not register and then muttered, "It's not as though Eduard will actually help us with our injuries. He really has such a useless power..."

"Regardless it's the power he was born with so it's not as though he can do anything about it," Toris replied evenly.

"So long as it aids us in fighting the enemy I think it should be acceptable," Kiku said before Natalia could respond. "But that's enough talking for now- we're wasting our energy. We should just focus on getting to Ivan and Yao, agreed?"

The silence that followed was enough of an answer for him, and the rest of the journey was spent without another word from anybody.

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Yao paced back and forth worriedly, trying to ignore the supposedly innocent smile beaming down at him from Ivan's face. "What's taking them so long? Shouldn't they be here by now?"

"You should be patient, Yao," Ivan replied in an all too cheerful voice. "They're probably just slow because of their injuries. They should be here soon."

"But that means their injuries are even more severe than I thought!"

Ivan only chuckled in response. "I'm sure it's nothing Eduard can't handle. Right, Eduard?"

The Estonian immediately straightened at the call of his name. "Y-yes, Mr. Braginsky! I'll use my power to the best of my ability on them!" He remained frozen for a few more moments, and then slumped back down with a sigh of relief as soon as Ivan had turned away.

Maria frowned at her brother. "You shouldn't scare them so much, Ivan. Look, he's terrified... This can't be good for his health."

"He'll be fine," Ivan said dismissively without even looking away from Yao.

"Furthermore," Yao continued as though the entire ordeal with Eduard hadn't even happened, "why are we meeting them on a hill? It's completely out in the open so any enemy could spot us from a mile away."

Ivan shrugged amiably. "It wasn't my choice to begin with. According to Toris' vision, this is near where the key is... and also where the final battle will commence."

"The key?" Yao instantly snapped his gaze upwards to meet the Russian man's. "Near here? So in that case we're going to ambush them?"

"That's the plan. But he also has some formidable allies so don't let your guard down, okay, Yao-Yao?"

Yao didn't respond, only looked away and then suddenly waved his arm. "They're here! They're coming over right now."

"Excellent," Ivan didn't bother looking to confirm it. Instead he gestured to Eduard, who obediently made his way over beside Yao to work on his teammates' exhaustion. "Now we're almost ready to obtain the key," Ivan said happily.

As Toris and the others emerged from the woods to the hill, Ivan glanced over at the barely visible specks on a hill not too far away. There was the key and his allies. They were so close by it was laughable. Ivan closed his eyes to go over his plan, blocking out Yao's shrill demand of where Xiang and Mei were, and Natalia's loud protest of having Eduard use her power on her.

This plan would work perfectly, with just the right touch of drama to make it fun. Oh yes, Ivan was definitely looking forward to it.

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**I'll hopefully have another chapter up by tomorrow, and if not than Tuesday for sure. **

**The final showdown and tons of deaths are coming up, so I hope you'll continue reading and enjoying this story!**

**Oh, and to answer something from anonymous reviewer Kyo... Toris' scene in the last chapter was pretty much him seeing a bunch of dead ghost speakers. However, whether or not this will actually happen is debatable, seeing as "the future is ever changing". I think that line came from a movie but I can't remember which one.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!**


	22. Chapter 22

**"Tuesday for sure"... ha ha. Well. I said I wanted to get close to finishing before school started but in the end I waited the entire school year... **

**I cannot express how sorry I am, you guys. A lot of people sent reviews of encouragement, which of course I'm really grateful for! Ah~ I really don't deserve all of the support I get, especially after making you guys wait for nine months...**

**In any case, I hope you enjoy this long-awaited chapter.**

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Matthias shifted uncomfortably at Ari's rant, trying not to think about how wounded Erik must be feeling. Honestly, if Matthias was hurt by what Ari had said about him imagine the Norwegian after listening to an entire list of why he'd been a terrible brother. Still, the most important thing right now was that they'd found him and the next thing on the list was to get him home where he'd be safe. The brothers could sort out their differences after that was done.

He'd just opened his mouth to suggest that when the sketchy-looking masked man who was standing near Ari spoke up.

"You're definitely a better guy than your kid brother gave you credit for," he said in an almost taunting tone. "I guess you're here to pick him up?"

"And take him straight home," Matthias answered, just incase Erik had a different idea. No matter what, that was the safest thing to do right now and the last thing they needed was another distraction to prevent that. "So if you'd just hand him over we could get this out of the way without too much trouble. Sound good?"

The masked man smirked. "No trouble? Sounds great. And I think the best way to ensure that is to ask you guys to leave right now."

Erik stiffened and Matthias immediately stepped forward. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Alfred and Matthew instinctively taking a fighting stance and Arthur pulling Peter closer to him.

"Just what is that supposed to mean?" Erik asked lowly before Matthias could say anything.

"It means I'm staying with these guys," Ari answered, staring defiantly at the ground. "Better company than you, at least."

Matthias was sure that surprise wasn't the only thing Erik was experiencing right now. Deciding to speak for his cousin, Matthias said, "Ari, I get that you're upset right now but staying with people you barely know is seriously a dumb thing to do. Just come home with us, okay?" he offered a smile, too tired to stretch it into his trademark grin. "We'll protect you, kid."

But Ari only frowned and shook his head, taking a step back. The expressionless man with golden eyes took this as a cue to step forward while his tired-looking companion placed a gentle hand on Ari's head.

Somehow that pissed Matthias off. After spending the last few hours crawling under bushes with a prissy musician and traveling all around town just to look for this brat he had the nerve to stand right in front of them and _refuse_? Kids these days really didn't know what was good for them.

"You're the key to the Ghost World, Ari," Matthias said, trying to keep his annoyance from showing. "Do you know what that means? It means that-."

"That lots of other people like Erik, other ghost speakers, are gonna be looking for me so I can grant their wish when I turn thirteen. I got that." Ari turned an accusing glare at him. "Thanks for keeping me updated."

Matthias sighed. "Ari, that's not fair- okay, never mind. But basically, out here on this completely open hill- anyone could ambush you and keep you and then just ask you to do terrible things. And you wouldn't have any choice but to grant them that. Giving people what they ask for isn't as simple as you think. It just takes one wrong person with one bad idea to pretty much end the world as we know it."

"Well aren't you a wise guy?" the masked man said. He wasn't smirking anymore but frowning. "Look, the kid said he wanted to stay with us. We'll keep him safe until he grants our wishes and then we'll bring him back to you guys. We don't want anything big, promise."

"You say that but how can you prove it?" Matthias challenged.

"You're not his brother," the tired-looking man suddenly spoke up. He blinked once, very slowly, and yawned. Then continued with a steady gaze at the Norwegian, "Erik... you've been quiet so far. Don't you... have anything you want to say to the fact that... Ari doesn't want to go back with you?"

At this, Ari looked at his older brother curiously, a flicker of contempt on his face but none of the rage he'd possessed earlier. Even he looked too tired to still be mad.

Erik held the stare with the seventh grader for a long time, his expression once again blank, his face containing no trace of his previous hurt. Finally he said, "If Ari trusts you three, I guess I can too. So long as you can assure me you'll bring him back safe I won't trouble you any further."

Several things happened within the next few moments.

Matthias looked at his cousin in shock. "Erik?"

The masked man grinned triumphantly and his two companions seemed relieved. Ari simply looked surprised, happy, and confused all at once.

Alfred lunged forward, protesting, "Wait a sec, what about us?"

And a knife pierced Ari's shoulder.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Natalia hated being healed by Eduard. Mainly because you could hardly call it healing at all. More accurately, he tricked your mind and body into thinking that it wasn't tired or hurt so you could keep on going as though you were completely refreshed. But you weren't, so if you pushed yourself too hard your injuries would be combined with all your previous ones that weren't actually gone and then you'd die and that'd be bad. And with her power of pushing her mind to its full capacity, Natalia now had to be twice as careful with knowing her limits and when to stop so she wouldn't end up near dead.

And that was annoying.

So she took it out on the key. It wasn't as though it was a fatal blow or anything- she just wanted to make him bleed a little to make up for putting her through so much bothersome stuff. And besides, it was a pretty classy way to start a final battle that would show all the other lowly ghost speakers just who ruled the Ghost World.

"Tch, you weren't supposed to hurt the key," the annoying Korean scolded. "Seriously, out of all the people there he's the one you aimed for? Common sense really does originate from Korea."

"Shut up before I put the next one in your eye," Natalia retorted. He'd been in a bad mood ever since learning that two of his fellow useless Asians had been left behind, but that didn't give him an excuse to not get beat up for being irritating.

Right now Brother Dearest was talking to the key's pathetic group, kindly asking that they give over the key without a fight if they didn't want to die. Really, Brother was so considerate. If it were Natalia in charge she would just kill everyone and go.

She eyed the group, trying to evaluate which one looked the strongest just in case this really did escalate into a battle (which it hopefully would). The tallest one with blonde hair holding a giant axe seemed tough but he was probably just a muscly idiot. The masked one and the blonde man with thick eyebrows were too surprised to be strong- if they were strong they would've gotten over their shock and gotten into a battle stance already. The two men wearing glasses both looked too confused to be of any challenge in a fight, and the masked one's companions simply didn't seem the fighting type. The ten-year-old was out of the question as he could just be killed in an instant.

The smallest blonde one, though, the one holding the key in his arms and glaring at Natalia with such ferocity in his blue eyes... She'd seen that kind of anger before. It wasn't blind anger, like the kind stupid people had before they suddenly lost all common sense and their fighting skills dropped by about 90%. This was a certain resolved anger, and if anything it would let this boy fight ten times better. If she was lucky, of course.

Natalia dared a smile. He might actually prove to be an entertaining show.

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Erik had been quick to pull out the knife and rip off his own sleeve to staunch the wound, but Ari didn't care as much about that. By now it was only a numb sensation in his shoulder that was easy to ignore. What he was more scared of was the look on Erik's face when the strange people had appeared, and the tall man with the Russian accent started talking about how so long as Ari was given over no one had to die.

Erik was furious, and it was absolutely terrifying.

Ari had never seen such a look of anger on his brother's features before. Erik simply wasn't the type to get mad. Exasperated, yes. Worried, yes. Irritated, yes. But never downright _mad_.

And yet, despite being so close to Erik, despite how angry his older brother was, Ari couldn't help but feel safe somehow. It was disgusting, how being held in his arms and being pressed tightly to his body would make Ari feel safe, but there was no denying it. That and the sense of relief. He hated his brother, that was the absolute truth... but it was nice to know that in the end Erik hadn't abandoned him.

"You people just don't seem to get it," Erik growled, his arms tightening protectively around Ari. His cobalt eyes narrowed and green wisps of smoke began to rise out of the ground, surrounding him and his brother. "Ari isn't going anywhere."

If anything, his answer only made the tall man's smile grow wider. "In a way I was rather hoping you would say that," he said as violet eyes gleamed in anticipation.

Around him, his allies all pulled out weapons and crouched down, most wearing grim looks that showed they weren't going to make this an easy battle.

"Shall we fight?"

ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ

Matthew quickly grabbed Peter and leapt back to a safer place while Alfred rushed into battle. Arthur soon joined the soft-spoken man, standing close to Peter and pulling him behind him. Peter didn't object, clearly overwhelmed by the sudden change of events. Right in front of him was an all-out ghost speaker fight, when just the day before he'd only ever met two ghost speakers in his life.

"I'm going to join Al," Matthew told his old caretaker. "The North American Brothers work as a team."

To his surprise, Arthur frowned his dissatisfaction. "But this isn't your fight," he said. "You don't have to do this."

"We're allies of the Nordic family," Matthew answered, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Their fights are ours."

"You don't seem to understand, Matthew. This is Ivan's family. Ivan Braginski. He's one of the most feared ghost speakers in the entire world. Even I wouldn't have been able to go against him if I still had my powers."

Ivan Braginski? Now why did that sound so familiar... Matthew shook his head. This was hardly the time to think about something so trivial. "That's irrelevant right now, Arthur. An alliance is an alliance- that's what you always told us, right?"

Arthur opened his mouth to protest once again, but Matthew beat him to it, offering a small smile.

"It'll be fine, eh. Al's got my back and I've got his. Don't worry. We'll definitely get the key back."

And with that he joined the battle, ignoring Arthur's demanding shout and still wondering just why that name had caught his attention in such a way.

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Sadiq barked out a laugh and raised his arms, grinning tauntingly at his chosen opponent. "Come at me, bro!"

Yong Soo made a face. "No fair," he whined, "why do I have to fight the old guy? Kiku, trade with me, da ze!"

"Hey, that pisses me off," Sadiq frowned, now folding his arms against his chest. "Ever heard of respect for your elders, brat? You're just as bad as the kid." He then lifted a hand and shifted the mask on his face, lowering it slightly so that the angry gleam in his eye could just be seen. "Speaking of, I still I have to kill you for what your friend did to him, you know."

This time it was Yong Soo who looked insulted. "Don't degrade me like that. I refuse to be put on the same level as her, da ze."

"Oh?" Sadiq arched an eyebrow. "You've got an interesting look on your face now." He fixed the mask back in place, lips stretching into a sharp-toothed grin. "Bring it. I'll teach you what it means to pick a fight with a soldier."

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"Don't you think... two against one... is kind of unfair?" Heracles blinked sleepily at the Japanese man before him while Gupta stood silently to his side. "I'll... give you a chance now to even out the odds."

"It's not numbers that matter in battle," Kiku replied in a solemn voice. He unsheathed his katana and held it out in front of him, his eyes holding a dangerous look, "but experience. And I can tell you right now that my experience far outweighs yours."

"... Is that so." Heracles yawned and glanced over at Gupta. The Egyptian merely stared back blankly. "That's not something you should be saying to people you barely know," the Grecian finally said. "Especially if they're ghost speakers."

"It is true that underestimating opponents is never wise," Kiku acknowledged. "However, your rogue group is rather infamous throughout the Ghost World. A band of thieves, yes?" A tiny smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth as he spoke. "I could never lose to such dishonorable people."

Gupta frowned and stepped forward while Heracles only yawned again.

"A band of thieves, huh?" the Grecian murmured. "That actually sounds pretty cool... Although... I don't really appreciate what you said about us being dishonorable." He scratched his head, a thoughtful look coming over his face, and then added, "If you apologize we'll let you off easy."

"I couldn't accept a disgrace like that."

Heracles shook his head with a sigh. "You Asians always confuse me... I'm offering you the easy way out and you just refuse to take it..." In the blink of an eye he disappeared and reappeared directly behind Kiku. Leaning forward, he whispered in the black-haired man's ear, "No turning back now."

Kiku immediately turned and sliced at his opponent, but Heracles merely teleported away, returning to Gupta's side. Kiku faced them again, this time warily, and he immediately noted the Egyptian lying unconscious on the ground. His eyes narrowed- was this the Grecian's doing? Why would he knock out his own teammate?

Heracles cracked a smile. "Don't blame me for what happens next... okay?"

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"I'll kill you!"

Yao dodged the axe swing easily, hopping backwards with all the grace of a crane as he sighed and said, "Blind attacks like that aren't even going to touch me, aru."

"Shut up," Matthias scowled. Who the hell were these people, anyway? Thinking they could just barge in and hurt Ari like that? His grip on his axe tightened as he thought about his cousin and he charged forward again with a battle cry. "As if I'd let you get away with hurting Ari!"

Yao leapt over the axe, somersaulting in the air as he did so, and landed behind Matthias, facing the Dane with an irritated yet sorrowful expression. "And just how do you think I feel, aru? You and your allies have killed my little siblings. No matter what that is something I cannot let go freely, aru."

Matthias whirled around with a horizontal cut, but Yao had already ducked under it and landed a firm kick to the blonde man's chest, causing Matthias to stumble back. Yao ran forward for another blow, lifting his leg for a flying side kick when Matthias suddenly grabbed his leg and tossed the Chinese's man to the side, a sick look of satisfaction coming over his face when he saw the ground give under the sudden force of Yao's body.

"Your talking is really starting to piss me off," Matthias declared, pointedly ignoring what Yao had said.

Yao stood up from the small crater he'd formed, brushing the dirt off his clothes and looking completely uninjured as he smiled grimly and replied, "Then I'm glad we're on the same page, aru."

Matthias just scoffed and ran forward once more.

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**I hope it was good... I'm gonna be starting the next chapter really soon, of course. But I'm actually in an away camp right now so time will be slim... Pssh, whatever. We're almost at the climax!**

**Thanks for sticking with me through all this time. You guys are definitely the best!**


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